China News Network reported on December 14 that near the end of the year, the price of edible oil rose again. Recently, several major brands, such as Luhua, Golden Dragon Fish and Fulinmen, almost simultaneously announced price increases of soybean oil, blended oil, rapeseed oil and other varieties, up by about 10%. As the saying goes, there are seven things to do to open the door: firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea. Now no one has burned firewood, and oil has become the second most important necessity of life. The collective rise in the price of edible oil has also worried many people.

The necessities of life -- oil, rose collectively, and the people were worried.

Consumer: "I heard that the price is going to rise. Come here and have a look. The price is up."

In a supermarket in Beijing, the reporter met two elderly people who came to buy cooking oil. A few days ago, they saw the news that the price of edible oil was going to rise in the newspaper. They originally wanted to buy some before the price rise, but they were empty. The supermarket staff told us that they had received the notice of price increase from several oil and fat enterprises at the beginning of this month.

Supermarket staff: "A while ago, it was 799 yuan."

Reporter: "Now it is 89.8 yuan, up just 10 yuan. Since the end of November, we have raised the peanut oil of Luhua by about 10%."

After visiting many supermarkets, the reporter found that the prices of soybean oil, rapeseed oil, peanut oil and other edible oils have been raised or the gifts have been canceled. After the first rise in prices of the Golden arowana, Fulinmen and Luhua, Douweijia, Yuanbao and other brands have all followed suit.

Consumer: "I can't accept the low income and the huge increase."

Reporter: "How much do you earn a month?"

Consumer: "For more than 2000 yuan, our wages are not going up. They are going up. Food is going up. One month's expenses are going up by 10%. Our life is under great pressure, including housing, housing, food and fuel. If we ask for more, it's just too much pressure."

In Xinfadi and Jinxiu Dadi grain and oil markets in Beijing, wholesalers told reporters that some time ago, there was a shortage of oil in the market.

Wholesaler: "The oil factory has no beans and is out of stock."

Reporter: "When did this happen?"

Wholesaler: "Only one month."

The reporter learned that during this period, the average increase of various edible oils exceeded 1%, with soybean oil having the largest increase. The brand of soybean oil in the golden arowana period rose by 6-6.5%, while the Fulinmen soybean oil series rose by 10-15%. These two brands account for at least 60% of domestic soybean small package edible oil.

Wholesaler: "The prices of Green Treasure, Huifu and Golden Dragon have all gone up. The increase in money is one week and one day."

Reporter: "Is your business affected?"

Wholesaler: "It must be affected. The original price of the oil was 35, but it rose to 40. The people below didn't accept it. Why did it rise so much?"

On December 11, the reporter arrived at a supermarket in Harbin, where he learned that the small package edible oil in the supermarket in the previous section was out of stock, and the situation has improved in recent days. The reporter still saw some brands of products in the supermarket. Before they were put on the shelves, customers rushed to buy them. However, the price of soybean oil in 5-liter packages of all brands has risen more than.

The price of edible oil has risen collectively and the market is full of suspicion

The collective rise in the price of edible oil has aroused suspicion in the market. The main reason for producers to support the price increase is that South America, the main producer of imported soybeans, suffered drought this year, and the international soybean trading volume fell. The soybean futures price for delivery next year has risen by nearly 20% since July, driving the domestic soybean price up.

In the edible oil we consume every year, soybean oil and soybean based blended oil account for more than 40% of the total consumption. The pricing of rapeseed oil and peanut oil depends on soybean oil. Now that soybeans have changed their face, oil prices have also changed.

The manufacturer's statement seems reasonable, but the actual situation is not true. Our reporter also investigated a soybean oil production enterprise in Heilongjiang.

Song Shengbin, Chairman of Heilongjiang Longjiang Fuliang Oil Co., Ltd., said: "The goods we produce every day can be transported on the same day. They are basically zero inventory, and the market is not available. The warehouse is almost a month old, and there is basically no oil in the warehouse. The oil is supplied on the day of production."

The reporter can hardly see finished products in the warehouse of Longjiangfu. Song Shengbin told the reporter that his enterprise has been in full production for nearly a month, and the finished products will be transported away immediately without any inventory.

Song Shengbin, the chairman of Heilongjiang Longjiang Foodstuff Cereals and Oils Co., Ltd., said, "We supply each supermarket with a fixed amount every day, and each supermarket delivers hundreds of boxes every day to ensure that there is no shortage on the table. Many of the products in Jilin, Liaoning, can only be arranged one row back to ensure the supply in Harbin market."

At the same time, the price of 5-liter soybean oil in Longjiangfu has just been adjusted from 42 yuan/barrel to 43.5 yuan/barrel. Song Shengbin admits that his company will make a lot of profits from the price increase. So what is the reason for this price increase?

Song Shengbin, the chairman of Heilongjiang Longjiang Foodstuffs and Oils Co., Ltd., said: "The cost of arrival at Hong Kong is increasing, but the average cost of arrival at Hong Kong in the early stage is not so high, and the price should not rise as high as it is today. There are still some man-made factors involved."

In Song Shengbin's view, the recent rise in oil prices and the rise in the price of imported soybeans are not necessarily directly linked, and human interests have become the main reason for this round of price increases. The soybeans processed by many enterprises were imported a few months ago. The price at that time was much lower than that now, and the production cost was not high.

Zhou Youjin, Deputy Secretary General of Heilongjiang Soybean Association, said, "Because we usually purchase soybeans six to eight months in advance, that is to say, the time we use to purchase soybeans is at least the beginning of this year. According to the prices we tracked at that time, the purchase prices were about 3400 and 3500."

Zhou Youjin told the reporter that the import prices of 3400 and 3500 yuan/ton were still conservative estimates. Because large enterprises have been importing soybeans for a long time, many prices are controlled between 3100 yuan and 3300 yuan/ton. After the price rise of soybean oil this time, most enterprises have huge profit margins.

Zhou Youjin, deputy secretary-general of Heilongjiang Soybean Association, said, "The efficiency of this enterprise is very, very good. For every ton of soybean squeezed, its actual efficiency may have exceeded 700 yuan. I think the current price is almost a huge profit for large enterprises."

In order to more effectively digest the edible oil in the early inventory and maximize the enterprise's interests, the price adjustment of edible oil has also effectively stimulated the sensitive consumer market.

Jiang Yang, manager of the research department of Tianqi Futures Co., Ltd.: "From the current point of view, the inventory is relatively abundant, but the demand has not increased rapidly. In this case, they can only cash in some of their profits by gradually increasing the price."

That is to say, the soybean oil price rise based on the raw material price rise is better understood as a promotion method of a few large edible oil enterprises, considering the vulnerable nerves of consumers.

Jiang Yang, manager of the research department of Tianqi Futures Co., Ltd., said, "Follow the rise, not the fall. In the process of the rise, consumption will be motivated. Everyone will buy the rise. In fact, the supply is not a big problem."

During the interview, the reporter learned that recently, with the introduction of a series of national preferential policies, local enterprises mainly engaged in processing domestic non GMO soybeans are basically in full operation, and the output is stable. How did the shortage in Harbin market come about?

Song Shengbin, the chairman of Heilongjiang Longjiang Foodstuff Cereals and Oils Co., Ltd., said: "Some large oil and grease groups in the coastal areas think that the supply of oil and grease is in short supply, and there may also be some hoarding. Some snapping has created the market, which should not be too tense. Now it has created a very tense situation."

In this way, on the one hand, the price is rising, on the other hand, it causes the phenomenon of shortage in individual markets, and a true lie in the edible oil market is thus presented. In the whole process, domestic soybeans have become poor followers of imported soybeans.

Song Shengbin, Chairman of Heilongjiang Longjiang Foodstuff Cereals and Oils Co., Ltd.: "Heilongjiang does not mean that we are Longjiang Foodstuff, but that all these enterprises have very low voice in oil pricing. That can only be with the changes in the south and the national market. We can only follow the price and have no initiative."

Zhou Youjin, deputy secretary-general of Heilongjiang Soybean Association, said, "Because we will import more than 42 million tons this year, but this year Heilongjiang soybean production is decreasing, so the proportion of entering the oil market will be further reduced, so there is no pricing right at all."

Zhou Youjin told the reporter that the import volume of soybeans in 2009 was 42 million tons, accounting for 90% of the national soybean oil market. The pricing power of domestic soybeans for the edible oil market has been lost for a long time. We can only watch the imported soybeans in the domestic edible oil market. However, Zhou Youjin suggested that, in view of the current market situation, it would be a good opportunity to release the domestic soybean temporarily stored last year.

Zhou Youjin, deputy secretary-general of Heilongjiang Soybean Association, said, "I think that this time, temporary reserves can be used to sell some of them. The price is good, the price can be stabilized, and the market supply can be met. When the imported soybean arrives in Hong Kong in late December and January, we can't sell it."

The company we interviewed is mainly engaged in processing domestic non GMO soybeans. In this round of rising oil prices, they can also take the ride of imported soybeans to digest some of last year's stocks. However, I understand that it is those imported soybeans who hold the market voice that really make huge profits from this round of price rise.

The production, processing and sales of imported GM soybeans are almost monopolized by several international giants, which are the real driving forces behind the price of edible oil. An agricultural expert once told me that the price of edible oil is the most difficult to predict among all kinds of agricultural products, because the whole resources are in the hands of a few foreign-funded enterprises, and the enterprises can adjust as they say, and outsiders can't be sure.

How do these international grain and oil giants call the wind and call the rain?

Do we have the means to stabilize oil prices

Our previous investigation in Heilongjiang found that it was not the rising cost that drove this round of edible oil prices, but the result of some enterprises' artificial manipulation. They just take the cost rise as a pretext to obtain greater profits. This is exactly the result of the impact of imported GM soybeans on the domestic soybean market. In the early years, several international grain and oil giants seized most of the market resources in China by taking advantage of low-cost soybeans. How do they achieve this step by step plan? Do we have the means to stabilize oil prices? Listen to Zhou Guanhua, Deputy Director of the Regulation Department of the State Food Administration, and Li Guoxiang, an economic expert from the Academy of Social Sciences.

Is the increase reasonable? Interview with Zhou Guanhua, Deputy Director of the Regulation Department of the State Food Administration, and Li Guoxiang, an economic expert of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Li Guoxiang, an economic expert from the Academy of Social Sciences, said: "The price rise should be unsupported."

Li Guoxiang, a researcher of the Rural Development Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told us that although the domestic soybean production had been significantly reduced this year due to weather reasons, and the price increase of soybean oil was in his expectation, he believed that the price increase of some enterprises was 6% - 15%, which was not fully justified.

Li Guoxiang: "Should the price of soybean oil rise? We should look at the soybeans of the whole world. According to the estimation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the supply of soybeans in our world will increase by 16% this year, which is a substantial increase."

The reporter noted that according to the report released by the industry journal Oil World, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, the global soybean output in 2008/2009 was 233.2 million tons, lower than the previous forecast of 234.4 million tons, but still higher than the actual soybean output of 222 million tons last year.

Reporter: "It sounds strange, why is the world's soybean production increasing, but the price of soybean oil in China has risen?"

Zhou Guanhua, Deputy Director of the Regulation Department of the State Food Administration, said: "Domestic edible vegetable oil is highly dependent on foreign countries, and 60% of it depends on imports."

Zhou Guanhua, Deputy Director of the Regulation Department of the State Food Administration, told us that China's high dependence on imported soybeans has long lost its voice in soybean pricing. At present, there are four multinational companies in charge of global grain transportation and marketing, namely ADM, Bangji, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, which are called the four major grain merchants in the industry.

Zhou Guanhua: "Internationally, from South America or the United States, they are a large industrial chain. They are also the main voice in pricing from production to acquisition to port transportation to China."

After entering the Chinese market, the four major grain merchants developed rapidly. ADM and Singapore Fengyi Group jointly invested and established Yihai Kerry Group, which has up to 38 factories and trading companies in China, and has also participated in famous grain and oil processing enterprises such as Luhua, which can be called the largest grain and oil processing group in China. At present, more than 70% of domestic oil extraction enterprises are controlled or shared by transnational grain traders, which has formed a situation where four major grain traders hold or share major brands such as Golden arowana, Fulinmen, and Luhua. The reporter noticed that although the price of edible oil was raised in an all-round way this time, the price of goldfish and other varieties, which were also the first to rise in price, were exactly the brands owned or controlled by the four major grain merchants.

Zhou Guanhua: "The whole edible oil is 1.3, 1.2 and 1.3 longer than that at the end of November, Jinlong oil is increased by 6-6.5, and Fulinmen is increased by 20-15. This is a small package."

Reporter: "Why are the prices of these products higher than those of other oils?"

Zhou Guanhua: "Like the Golden Dragon Fish Fulinmen, they have a large market share, and the small packaging market should account for about 60%. Their share is really high. Whoever controls the oil resources will control the pricing power."

The reason given by the manufacturer for the rise in the price of edible oil is the cost of raw materials. Li Guoxiang analyzed that, on the whole, the increase in the price of raw materials has indeed led to the reduction of profits in the processing sector. However, from the perspective of the business model of transnational grain traders, they control all the links from production to processing. In fact, the reduced profits in the processing sector have already fallen into the pocket of transnational grain traders in the circulation link. In fact, transnational grain traders did not integrate the global grain industry chain for the sake of meager processing profits from the beginning, but rather for the sake of more considerable gains in soybean trade.

Li Guoxiang: "Every round of price increases by a large margin, the biggest beneficiaries are operators. The profit of oil extraction should not be very high, mainly in the trade sector, which belongs to excess profits. Generally, 10% profit is good, and then they can reach 30%, 40%, 50%, which is very considerable."

Zhou Guanhua: "It is not easy to evaluate whether the profits are huge, but the profits must be very rich. They will not do loss making businesses."

With the control of transnational capital over the domestic market, the regulatory capacity of the state stored grain in the field of edible oil is becoming increasingly weak. In 2007, under the control of transnational grain traders, the domestic edible oil price soared, and the China Stored Grain Corporation (CSCO) sold 200000 tons of edible oil to stabilize the oil price, but the market was unable to withstand waves. The subsequent survey showed that 70% of the edible oil entered the warehouse of a transnational grain trader.

Reporter: "Why did not the previous regulation effect