Where is the rapeseed oil blooming in 100 million mu of rape across the country?

In March, rape blossoms bloomed again, and the periphery of the city and the ridges in the fields turned golden.

After the flowers are finished, the newly squeezed rapeseed oil will be on the market soon. However, this kind of "black" oil, which carries the memories on the tongue of the previous generation, can not be found in today's shops and supermarkets. if people want to eat rapeseed oil, they can only go to the villagers' small workshops to buy it.

China is a big rapeseed planting country. According to the statistics of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the total harvest area of rapeseed in the world in 2014 is 541.98 million mu, of which China accounts for more than 1/5 and is expected to be 112.5 million mu. However, despite the spread of rapeseed growing areas, China remains the largest importer of rapeseed, importing 3.75 million tons in 2014, accounting for 28.4 per cent of the world market.

Where is the oil from rapeseed after the flowers fade?

Shangchao rapeseed oil is less than 10%.

"now there is very little rapeseed oil in the supermarket, and the taste and color are different from those before. If you want to buy authentic rapeseed oil in your memory, you can only go to small workshops in Jiangxia and Huangpi." A Wuhan citizen told the reporter.

In recent years, various kinds of edible oils such as salad oil and blending oil have occupied most of the edible oil market. The reporter visited many supermarkets in Wuhan and found that soybean oil, blending oil, corn oil, and other relatively expensive oils are mainly on the shelves of edible oil, while some supermarkets put some relatively expensive oils such as tea oil and olive oil in a conspicuous position. Rapeseed oil, a traditional edible oil, is placed in the corner, side or bottom position, and the quantity is very small, less than 10% in the edible oil area of the supermarket, and some small supermarkets have no rapeseed oil at all.

"now that consumers' living habits have changed, most people will choose some relatively inexpensive soybean oil, or corn oil, and so on, coupled with the addition of rapeseed oil to many blended oils, which is suitable for the current concept of balanced health care for the masses. Therefore, not many people come to the supermarket to name and buy rapeseed oil, so the types and quantities of rapeseed oil are less than before." Ms. Zhang, marketing specialist of cooking oil at a Zhongbai supermarket in Wuchang District, Wuhan City, told the Yangtze River Business Daily.

In addition, some people in the industry have reported to reporters that at present, some of the high-end tea oil and olive oil sold in the Chinese market are actually blended with rapeseed oil, "because the overall quality of rapeseed oil in China is relative to other vegetable oils. it can be regarded as high nutritional value, good taste, and relatively reasonable production price. As a result, some high-end manufacturers buy rapeseed oil in large quantities to blend into high-end cooking oil with low output and high price, so there is even less rapeseed oil production on the market. "

Is it colorless and tasteless or rapeseed oil?

"in the past, the oil bubbled when heated in the pot, which smelled and tasted unique, but now the rapeseed oil sold on the market is heated in the pot without bubbling, and the taste is gone." Shayang County, Jingmen City, Hubei Province is known as "the hometown of Chinese rapeseed oil". Sister Li, a villager who insists on eating rapeseed oil for years, has witnessed the changes of rapeseed oil in the market.

Compared with the black rapeseed oil with special flavor in the past, why has the rapeseed oil on the market changed?

"it is not a problem with the quality of rapeseed oil, but the result of the gradual maturity of rapeseed oil processing technology." Mr. Hong, who has been engaged in the research and development of oil biotechnology in Wuhan for many years, told reporters that there are different grades of rapeseed oil on the market. "first-grade rapeseed oil is refined by modern technology and meets the requirements of modern edible oil. Colorless and tasteless. The fourth-grade rapeseed oil retains the original refining process and maintains the traditional flavor. "

Take Shayang County as an example, "in the 1970s and 1980s, rapeseed processing equipment and technology were quite backward, and there was no refining technology, so it looked black." Gong Zhenglin, general manager of Hubei Hongsen Tianli Oil Biotechnology Co., Ltd., said that since the 1980s, the state began to pay attention to oil safety, studied hybrid rapeseed, and gradually reduced the content of "glucosinolate and erucic acid" in rapeseed. Into today's "low glucosinolate, low erucic acid" rapeseed, that is, what we now call double-low rapeseed. Its large-scale production and planting has changed the original style and characteristics of traditional rapeseed oil in China.

Is the nutritional value and purity of colorless and tasteless rapeseed oil not as good as before? Mr. Hong replied in the negative, "although hybrid rape has changed the appearance of the product through deep processing, the nutritional value of rapeseed oil has been retained, which is basically the same as in the past and can be safely used."

Where's the rapeseed oil?

In 2014, the harvest area of rapeseed in China is estimated to be 112.5 million mu (USDA statistics), an increase of 0.67% over 2013; the total output of rapeseed in China reached 14.7 million tons, an increase of 3.5% over 2013. In addition, according to a survey by the agricultural department of Hubei Province, the summer harvest area of rape in Hubei Province is expected to be 18.7305 million mu in 2014, an increase of 336000 mu over the previous year; the total output is 2.582 million tons, an increase of 74000 tons; and the total output has been the first in the country for 19 consecutive years.

So, where is so much rapeseed oil?

"Farmers keep it on their own, small workshops sell directly to consumers or sign orders with enterprises, so that the market output of rapeseed oil, which is not enough to eat in our country, is even less." Mr. Hong said, "at present, China's rapeseed oil market is mainly divided into small packaging products and large packaging products, small packaging products are directly purchased by enterprises, corresponding to super, another kind of mass packaging oil. It is mainly purchased in large quantities per ton by some enterprises that will use it."

For example, sauce companies such as Lao Gan Ma and seasoning companies that produce hot pot sauces and sauces often need rapeseed oil seasoning for their products, so they will choose to cooperate with growers and processing enterprises to sign nearly 1,000 tons of rapeseed oil demand contracts every year. As a result, the supply of rapeseed oil in the market in China is limited, and consumers see even fewer kinds.

Most of the rapeseed oil is collected and stored by the state.

In addition to signing orders with enterprises and a small amount of sales, most of the rapeseed oil is acquired by the state's temporary reserves. Gong Zhenglin told the reporter: "in order to protect the interests of farmers, the state buys rapeseed (oil) at a protective price, entrusts the Central Grain Reserve Corporation to allocate temporary storage plans to qualified oil processing enterprises, and entrusts oil enterprises to purchase production, processing and reserves. realistically, except for a very small number of farmers, most of the rapeseed oil we produce every year is collected and stored by the state, and a small amount is independently purchased, processed and sold by enterprises."

China National Grain Storage Corporation is the main body of the country's temporary collection and storage. In 2014, the state identified 73 entrusted acquisition enterprises and 72 entrusted processing enterprises in Hubei Province to participate in the temporary collection and storage of rapeseed. Where does the rapeseed oil go after storage?

"eventually, it will be put on the market in turn to stabilize the price of rapeseed oil." Mr. Hong said that in recent years, the rapeseed oil stored by the state has not been released from the warehouse, and the main purpose of the state's collection and storage of rapeseed oil is to leverage the price and stabilize the market in a timely manner when international rapeseed oil prices are in turmoil.

The "ripening period" of rapeseed oil

However, even if the national temporary reserves, its reserves are not much. In particular, last year, various grain enterprises in 12 major rapeseed producing areas, including Hubei and Sichuan, accumulated 3.49 million tons of summer rapeseed, down 43.34 percent from the same period last year. Among them, the purchase of temporarily stored rapeseed was 2.15 million tons, down to 52.33% from the same period last year.

The most direct reason for the decrease of harvested reserves is the reduction of rape planting area, resulting in a decrease in total output. Gong Zhenglin analysis, rape cultivation in China or scattered household planting, did not achieve intensive, large-scale planting, the level of mechanization is relatively low.

In addition, the decline in reserves is also related to the reduced enthusiasm of farmers to grow rape. Xu Hua, administrative manager of Wuhan CNOOC Hongda Technology Industry Co., Ltd., said, "in terms of pursuing economic benefits alone, growing rape is far less cost-effective than wheat."

It is reported that October every year is the planting season for rape, almost at the same time as wheat, so the two crops are competitive. Xu Hua said that the net income of wheat is 400-500 yuan per mu, while that of rape is only 200-300 yuan per mu. "when farmers grow rape, apart from eating it themselves, they can't sell the rest for much money."

"China's rapeseed oil is still in a period of maturity, and most of the existing large oil enterprises are losing money on rapeseed oil projects." Mr. Hong said, "compared with tea oil and soybean oil, if rapeseed oil wants to develop to the high end of the market, its oil production is many times higher than that of tea oil, and the market supply is large, and the price cannot go up; if it is a popular oil, it is not comparable to the oil production of soybeans, and the price is not as low as that of competitors, so it is very difficult for the market to open."