Information Times reported on April 2 that following the approval of price increases for the two major milk brands, Bright Dairy and Sanlu, yesterday the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) also approved the price increase application for cooking oil by the Golden Dragonfish brand. Yesterday's interview revealed that although the new round of price hikes had not yet reached Guangzhou, suppliers of the Golden Dragonfish brand had already "hinted" to the Jusco supermarket: the price of the 5L blended oil would increase by 20 yuan, corn oil by about 10 yuan, and the rise in peanut oil was still unable to be estimated.
16 Brands of Cooking Oil Might Increase Prices
The NDRC posted a notice on its official website yesterday titled "Our Commission Has Accepted the Price Increase Application from COFCO Kerry Investment Co., Ltd." The notice stated that recently COFCO Kerry Investment Co., Ltd. submitted an application to the NDRC requesting a price increase for small-packaged edible vegetable oils. According to relevant regulations, the NDRC accepted the company’s price increase application without raising any objections to the content of the price hike application.
It is understood that COFCO Kerry Investment Co., Ltd. produces 16 brands of small-packaged cooking oils in China, including "Golden Dragonfish", "Fragrant Full Garden", "Yuanbao", "Hoo Hoo Flower", "Carp", "Skillful Chef", "Flower Flag", and "Hand Mark". In other words, the approved price increase could involve all categories of products under these 16 brands.
Supermarket Cooking Oil Promotions Will Cease
For this reason, the reporter visited the wholesale and retail market for cooking oil in Guangzhou yesterday and found that the price hike wind had not yet reached Guangzhou.
In the grain and oil sales area of the Nanzhou branch of RT-Mart, multiple peanut oil brands such as Golden Dragonfish, Luhua, Hoo Hoo Flower, Fulinmen, and Yingmao were still conducting discount promotional activities. Taking Golden Dragonfish cooking oil as an example, the reporter counted and found that merchants were offering discounts on 10 varieties of the brand's cooking oils, mainly involving peanut oil and sunflower blended oil, such as the 5L Golden Dragonfish aromatic peanut oil reduced from 83.5 yuan/bottle to 79.8 yuan/bottle.
The reporter noticed that the promotion deadline for these cooking oil products was April 1st, and various specifications of edible blended oil and rapeseed oil had already returned to their original prices between March 27th and March 30th. Only corn oil and sunflower seed oil started discount promotions from yesterday, with a reduction of about 4-5 yuan for the 5L package. The supermarket explained that the promotion period and promotion prices were jointly negotiated by suppliers and the supermarket procurement department, automatically returning to the original price after the promotion period ended, but there was a possibility that suppliers might subsequently raise the original price.
On the wholesale market side, a responsible person from the Xinyuan Grain and Oil Wholesale Market in Baiyun District also expressed that the purchase price of edible oil was influenced by national policies, manufacturer raw material purchase prices, and agricultural futures market conditions, causing real-time price fluctuations. "However, from the overall trend, the recent price of edible oil can only go up, and the possibility of falling prices is slim."
Golden Dragonfish Oil Prices Could Rise Up to 30%
Although the new round of price hikes had not yet reached Guangzhou, Manager Liu of the PR Department at Jusco Supermarket revealed that the supplier of the Golden Dragonfish brand within the supermarket had already hinted at it. However, since the supplier had not yet received written product price adjustment notices issued by the company headquarters to various supermarkets, the exact timing of the price hike was still unclear.
It was introduced that the price of Golden Dragonfish cooking oil would see a significant increase. Taking the 5L specification of various cooking oil products as an example, the edible blended oil currently selling for 73-74 yuan would increase by 20 yuan; the corn oil currently selling for 101-102 yuan might increase by around 10 yuan; peanut oil would also rise in price, but due to the uncertain trend of peanut raw material purchase prices, the specific increase could not yet be estimated.
Industry insiders said that if "Golden Dragonfish" leads the price increase, then "Hoo Hoo Flower", "Carp", "Skillful Chef", "Flower Flag", and "Hand Mark" and other cooking oils increasing their selling prices would be "only a matter of time."
Despite the reporter's interviews yesterday not showing any other cooking oil brands following suit in price increases, "Luhua" and "Fulinmen," also leading brands in the cooking oil industry, may accelerate their efforts to smoothly adjust prices upon seeing their competitors' approved price hikes.
(Source: Information Times, Author: Zhou Fang, Yang Li)