It can be confusing to get pricing from so many different suppliers for bulk oils. Each offers their pricing in different units: US suppliers give pricing in pounds or gallons, european suppliers give pricing in metric tons (MT), liters or kilograms.

Converting the metric to the english system (or vice versa) can be confusing-- any middle schooler will agree with you on this. Especially when your bulk olive oil prices depend on accurate calculations.

That’s why we’ve created a set of conversion standards for you, so that you can convert all of the weights you receive quickly and simply. This will help you convert your pricing into many different forms so that you can accurately compare options across the board.

Shipping is a big factor when you’re determining your delivered bulk oil price.

Typically, your supplier will initially give you an FOB cost, which is the price sitting at their facility.  Then your shipping will be a special cost to your address that will be added on to that. Those two factors will give you your delivered oil price, which really the important factor to focus on because it’s the actual money that will be coming out of your pocket.

So how do you figure out your delivered prices, including the cost of shipping? We’ll explain.

Shipping has a big impact on the total delivered cost of your bulk oil ingredients--or any ingredients for that matter. The amount that it costs to have products shipped from your suppliers door to your own gets added to the FOB cost that you were originally quoted. Together, these two factors (FOB cost + shipping cost) make up the total price that you pay.

That being said, it’s very important to understand what makes your freight cost what it is, because it can make or break how competitive your delivered prices are. There’s lots of complex ins and out of the transportation business, but we’re going to focus on the basics. There’s two common different ways that freight costs are calculated: weight based rates or flat pallet rates.

There are many different types of suppliers out there. Before making your final supplier choice, it’s best to know what kind of business you’re partnering with and how much they have their hands on the actual product you’re getting. Knowing this information will help you strike up the ideal business partnership.

The most common types of bulk oil suppliers are as follows. These categories are typical across the board for bulk food ingredients used in manufacturing.

Types of Ingredient Suppliers

1. The Manufacturer

UDPATE:  Want to see the commodity market update for the 2014-2015 harvest season?  Read the latest here:  Olive Oil Prices And Commodity Market Update: Spring 2015

As discussed in prior commodity market updates, Spain had an even better harvest in 2013/14 than predicted, with record volumes of olive oil produced (1,752,100 tons in Spain alone). This reflects an increase of 16% in comparison to the prior harvest year of 2012/13, which yielded a surprisingly low crop volume and caused an international jump in the price of olive oil.

As a oil ingredient supplier, we work with many of the top food manufacturers in the natural and specialty foods industry. This gives us unique insight into ingredient trends, to see which oils are most popular, and which are becoming the new rage.

Ten years ago, most food manufacturers used primarily mainstream, conventional oils: peanut, corn, soybean and canola oil. As the natural and specialty food industry has blossomed, there’s been a greater shift towards more health-conscious choices.

If you're thinking about receiving your bulk oils in Bag in Box Totes, you're not alone.  Many manufacturers are making the switch to Bag in a Box (BIB) totes.  

Before your first tote delivers, here's what you're going to want to know.  These photos will go through each step of how you will set up the dispensing system, how you'll get the oil out and afterwards, dispose of the tote after use.

The best tips for small businesses and soapmakers

1. Use a local distributor if you buy just one drum or a few cases. Because of how freight shipments work, you’ll save money by paying a bit more for the ingredients but you will make that up on the shipping cost that you save.

1. Most Canola Oil is produced in Canada.
2. The origin of the word Canola is debated. Some believe that Canola stands for Canadian Oil, where Canadian stands for the CAN and OLA represents Oil. On the other hand, some contest that Canola actually stands for Canadian Oil Low Acid (CAN-O-L-A).
3. Canola Oil is produced from the Canola Oil plant. This plant is a hybridized version of the Rapeseed plant, and it’s proper name is Canola now. This hybridization process took place through traditional breeding methods, not genetic engineering.
4. Chemically, Canola Oil is different than Rapeseed in that it must have less than two percent erucic acid and less than 30 micromoles of glucosinolates. It can not be called Canola unless it meets these chemical standards.
5. Canola is a plant from the Brassica family. This is the same family that cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower comes from.
6. Canola seeds are grown on tall plants that yield pods. These pods resemble pea pods (about ⅕ the size) and each one is filled with about 20 black or brown seeds. These seeds are where the oil comes from.
7. The average canola seed is 45% oil.
8. Non-GMO Canola Oil has gained popularity in recent years. This type of oil avoids the use of seeds that have been grown using genetic modification.
9. Genetic modification became common place in Canola plants years ago to help them grow more successfully. The genetic modification made the plants more tolerant to Roundup and also to produce Bt toxins that are toxic to certain insects.
10. Approximately 90% of Canola Oil produced today in the US is not Non-GMO.
11. Canola Oil has a high heat tolerance, light taste profile and light yellow color making it ideal for baking, cooking and frying.
12. After the oil is expelled, the remaining solids (known as the canola meal) is often used for animal feed.

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Did you know that there is both Organic Extra Virgin and an Organic Virgin Olive Oil? Just like there is a regular Extra Virgin and regular Virgin Olive Oil, each of these oils are also available in an organic version.

Interestingly though, you won’t find Organic Virgin Olive Oil very many places in the US. That’s because there’s not much of it that is produced, nor is it often demanded by customers. It’s just not that readily available. So why is that?

Regular vs. Expeller Pressed vs. Expeller Pressed Non-GMO vs. Organic

Just like olive oil, canola oil comes in a number of different varieties. How the oil is pressed/produced, and what kinds of seeds it comes from are the two major factors that determine what the grade each oil is.

The most common varieties available in the food manufacturing industry are:

• Canola Oil (also known as Regular Canola Oil or Canola Salad Oil)
• Expeller Pressed Canola Oil
• Non-GMO Expeller Pressed Canola Oil
• Organic Canola Oil

Depending on your industry and your price goals, it will be important to make sure you’re sourcing the right kind of Canola Oil for your purposes. Here is a description of how each variety differs from the other. 

If your job is to place orders and plan inventory for your raw ingredients, you’ve got a lot of information to juggle at one time. Your most important job is to make sure that the raw ingredients your company needs for production get there on time, so that you manufacturing can go off as planned, without a hitch.

Here’s 5 best practices to keep in mind when you’re placing orders. These tips will help you save money, will help your oil deliver on time and should make your job as simple as possible.

As a bulk oil ingredient supplier, we have an unique vantage point: we get watch food companies grow from their inception into a strong brand name and then, (for the lucky few) become nationally renowned. This is one of the perks of our job: the joy in watching something real and strong grow from just a little seed.

We often work with these manufacturing companies from their start-- as they’re writing their business plan, to comparing how to bring their new ingredients in. And then later, we get to see their finished products flourish. We have the privilege to help them transition from small to large, and watch them grow. Many manufacturers we’ve worked with go on to sell to Whole Foods, UNFI, and other natural grocery chains.

But, most food manufacturers start their journey along the same path. To be able to build a solid foundation, we’ve noticed that they all need to need to learn the same things about the industry and make some key decisions about their new business. These decisions will allow them to really get their feet underneath them and begin growing their brand.

So as a way of paying it forward, here’s what you should keep in mind as you’re starting your new food brand. We hope others’ experiences can help you flourish!

The debate about GMOs is a big one right now. The natural foods industry is seeing a swift and strong movement towards GMO avoidance in food products. This change, many would say, has been a long time coming.

Canola oil is at the center of this debate. It is among the top 5 crops that are genetically modified in the US, along with sugar beets, soy, cotton and corn. Canola oil that has been genetically modified has become the norm in the food industry; around 90% of the current canola harvested comes from genetically modified seed.

Where The Misunderstanding Lies

In the storm of the non-GMO movement, some people are (incorrectly) claiming that canola seeds, at their genetic foundation are a genetically modified plant and Non-GMO options cannot, therefore, exist. This misled claim comes from a misunderstanding about why genetic modification has come into play, and what it’s purpose was. Let us begin with with the growing of the canola plant.

Imported olive oil versus its domestic counterpart seems to be an ever growing debate in the olive oil industry here in the US.  

Many manufacturers wonder if they should be using a US-grown olive oil, or if they will need to rely on imported olive oil to fulfill their needs.  The answer lies in looking closely at domestic olive oil-- both the wonderful traits of the oil itself and the US olive oil industry as a whole.  

With the rise of gourmet olive oil retailers and the growing concern about oil adulteration, a turn towards domestic sources (read: high quality oil, from trusted suppliers close to home) is a natural one.  But for the manufacturing industry specifically, there are inherent challenges that would emerge by relying on only US sources for oil.