0.5 kilograms of oil, 100 yuan!
On March 16, the 2021 Hubei Rapeseed Flower Festival opened in Shayang County, Jingmen. At the scene, a high-end rapeseed oil produced in Jingmen attracted attention. After purchasing it, some tourists said: "This is a high-end edible oil produced in Hubei. When you go back, you must let your family try it."
The tourists refer to "high-end edible oil" as high-oleic-acid rapeseed oil, named after a high-oleic-acid rapeseed variety developed by Fu Tingdong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
To promote high-oleic acid rapeseed varieties and create an upgraded version of "double-low" rapeseed, Hubei took the lead in the industrialization of high-oleic acid rapeseed oil in the country, and thus led Hubei’s "one pot of oil" project to embark on the road of high-quality development.
Hubei rapeseed oil
Faded out of the market
Rapeseed is the most advantageous bulk crop in Hubei and an important raw material for domestic vegetable oil. Hubei rapeseed area and output rank among the top in the country all year round. Rapeseed "double low" (low erucic acid, low glucosinolates) has a high rate of rapeseed, good color, full kernels, and high oil yield. The commercialization rate exceeds 50%, ranking first in the country.
However, it is regrettable that, as a major province of rapeseed, Hubei does not have a rapeseed oil brand that can be as famous as Luhua, Fulinmen, and Golden Arowana.
According to the information from the Hubei Provincial Rape Office, there are many rapeseed oil processing enterprises in Hubei, including more than 30 leading enterprises at the provincial level, but the scale is not large. There are only two enterprises with sales of over 100 million yuan, and most of the brands are not well-known enough.
"There are many reasons why the Hubei rapeseed brand is not strong enough, such as the impact of foreign imported oil, insufficient financial support, and the low degree of agricultural industrialization, but the deeper reason is that Hubei enterprises are not liberated enough and the market consciousness is not strong." Yin Liang, director of the provincial oil and vegetable office, pointed out the problem pointedly.
The most outstanding manifestation of Hubei rapeseed oil enterprises’ lack of market awareness is the lack of publicity and promotion, which has caused consumers’ awareness of rapeseed oil to remain in the 1980s and 1990s.
At that time, the Hubei grain and oil market was dominated by rapeseed oil, accounting for more than 90% of the market share. At that time, due to technical limitations, rapeseed oil contained as much as 40% erucic acid, which caused rapeseed oil to leave a bad impression on people such as "black color, heavy soot, and green smell". Around 2000, under the impact of edible oils such as salad oil and peanut oil, Hubei rapeseed oil gradually faded out of the market.
In fact, since the 1990s, our province has begun to promote the "double low" rapeseed variety cultivated by the team of academician Fu Tingdong of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the expert team of the China National Petroleum Institute. "Double low" rapeseed oil not only improves the appearance and taste of rapeseed oil, but also significantly improves the beneficial nutrients of rapeseed oil, which is low in saturated fatty acids and beneficial to human health.
Hubei also has a number of grain and oil companies producing "double low" rapeseed oil, but due to various reasons, companies do not pay enough attention to product feature promotion and brand promotion. Healthy "double low" rapeseed oil is not popular, and it has not been able to capture the minds of consumers.
differential advancement
"Double Low" Rape Upgraded Edition
"To build the Hubei rapeseed oil brand, we must integrate forces and concentrate resources to support the rapid growth of enterprises in sub-sectors." Yin Liang introduced that in recent years, Hubei has continued to increase its support for the rapeseed industry and support Hubei rapeseed oil enterprises to become bigger and stronger.
In 2018, focusing on the high-end consumer market, Hubei Province established a high-oleic acid rapeseed industry.
High oleic acid rapeseed can be regarded as an upgraded version of "double low" rapeseed. Generally speaking, the oleic acid content of "double low" rapeseed oil is about 60%, while high oleic acid rapeseed oil has more than 72% oleic acid content on the basis of "double low". Olive oil, which is recognized by the world as a vegetable oil, has an oleic acid content of about 72%. High oleic acid rapeseed oil has a similar oleic acid content to olive oil, with lower saturated fatty acids and contains a variety of essential fatty acids. Its fatty acid composition quality exceeds that of olive oil.
Jingmen is an important base for rape production in Hubei. Hubei Province took the lead in testing and demonstrating high-oleic acid rape varieties selected by Huazhong Agricultural University in Jingmen, and adopted a "seven unified" management model, that is, unified standards, unified seed supply, unified field management, unified acquisition, unified storage and transportation, unified brand, and unified sales. In the acquisition process, a price increase of 2 yuan/kg was adopted to promote the planting of high-oleic acid rape. In 2021, the planting area of Jingmen high-oleic acid rape reached 300,000 mu, ranking first in the country.
The production of high-end rapeseed oil requires a high-end production line. In 2020, Hubei Jingpin Oil Co., Ltd. was established by Hubei Nonggu Industrial Group, a local state-owned enterprise in Jingmen City, and an advanced production line was introduced to be responsible for the production of high-oleic acid rapeseed oil. At the end of that year, the company produced the first batch of about 7,000 tons of high-oleic acid rapeseed oil, which was approved for listing after passing the inspection.
"For the production process and quality safety of high oleic acid rapeseed oil, we are confident that it can meet the standards. Now the most important thing is to make consumers recognize it." Xia Weijun, deputy general manager of Hubei Jingpin Oil Co., Ltd., said that the factory is designed to have an annual output of 200,000 tons. At present, the output is only about 6,000 to 7,000 tons.
The promotion of high oleic acid rapeseed varieties has found a differentiated development route for Hubei rapeseed oil brands. According to the data of the Provincial Oil and Vegetable Office, rapeseed has a high double-low rate, good color, full kernels, and high oil yield. The commercialization rate exceeds 50%, ranking first in the country.
Hubei rapeseed oil
Appearing in Times Square, USA
How to break through on the consumer side is the biggest pain point and difficulty for Hubei rapeseed oil brands.
At the government level, the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has launched the "Regional Public Brand of Agricultural Products" strategy since 2018, and strives to improve the market share and brand reputation of high-quality agricultural products in Hubei through the demonstration and leading role of public brands.
High oleic acid rapeseed oil is one of the regional public brands vigorously promoted in Hubei, with Jingmen as the main battlefield. In 2019, Jingmen launched the regional public brand "Jingpin Mingmen" of agricultural products with the core connotation of "China Nonggu · Longevity Jingmen", and decided to use public branding as the development engine to promote the development of key agricultural industries, rural revitalization and farmers’ income and wealth.
In the past two years, "Jingpin Mingmen" based on high oleic acid rapeseed oil has gone national and global through media at all levels. In December 2019, it appeared on the Nasdaq big screen in Times Square, New York, USA, and covered 2 billion people.
Brand promotion continues to make efforts, and high-oleic rapeseed oil is gradually recognized by the market, but it is still not a day’s work to move from a brand to a famous product.
A Jingmen executive who produces high-oleic-acid rapeseed oil admitted that although high-oleic-acid rapeseed oil is of high quality and healthier, it still needs greater promotion due to the long-term bad impression on consumers.
The executive also revealed that the company has been discussing whether to replace the words "high-end rapeseed oil" on the packaging with "high-end edible oil" to make it more acceptable to consumers.
Hu Youjun, chairperson of Hubei Nonggu brand management joint stock company, introduced that high oleic acid rapeseed oil is the standard of olive oil, and the next step will be to enter the first-line market through dealers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and then promote it to the whole country after forming a word-of-mouth.