Road to consolidation

Markets are subject to an endless process of subtle, rapid, and sometimes unpredictable change. The edible oil industry made a profit of over 2 billion yuan (US$292 million) in 2003, but came to a sudden halt when the soybean crisis hit in 2004.

Because soybean processing enterprises usually have to spend 95 % of their funds on raw material purchase, getting soybean pricing right is the foreign grain giants’ most effective weapon in establishing stability and a monopoly in China’s edible oil market.

Domestic soybean pressing business suffered badly during the crisis - nearly 70% of companies halted production, and many went bankrupt. After the crisis, ADM began to buy up all the assets of Chuanliang Yihai Grain & Oil Corporation through its Singapore-based Wilmar Group.

There are many other such cases: Wilmar Group advanced into the northeast soybean base to sweep up the last domestic soybean markets; Bunge purchased an edible oil plant in Rizhao, Shandong whose daily production capacity is about 2,400 tons; in cooperation with a South Korean company, Cargill set up a large-scale soybean processing plant whose daily production capacity is 10,000 tons.

Following these consolidations, in an edible oil industry whose annual processing capacity is over 51 million tons there are only 47 companies whose daily raw material processing capacity exceeds 1,000 tons. The four grain giants hold shares in companies like Arawana, Lam Moon and Luhua. ADM even holds shares in several edible oil plants controlled by COFCO.

Xu Xiaoqing, Vice-Director of the Rural Economy Department of the State Council’s Development Research Center, said that post-consolidation almost the whole soybean industry is under the control of the four foreign grain giants.