The How-To Pricing Of Bulk Oil Compares to Sunflower/Safflower Oil

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

sunflower/safflower pricing comparison

High quality, non-GMO and organic oils are in such high demand. If you use specialty oils or natural oils as a bulk ingredient in your manufacturing facility you are probably already well aware.

These premium oils often come at a higher price. Perhaps you are already feeling the pressure from the market, and looking at other alternatives that could help you save on costs and increase your profitability.

Today, let’s focus on the giant elephant in the room…. the price. Here is how some of the most commonly known healthy non-GMO and organic oils compare.

 

Price Is Important 

How do you make the choice as to which bulk oil is best for your next food product? It isn’t always about the oils’ health properties, color or taste all the time. These features can help guide your decision making, but it’s also about the functional business aspects at play.

Can you guess what it is? Well if you guessed money you are right! Price is and will forever be a vital part of your business decisions.

Costs are a huge part of your company’s profitability, and it makes sense that you may look at ways to cut costs to keep your budget in check. Ingredients make up the major costs of producing your product, so it’s not surprising that you may want to start there.

To help you avoid buyers remorse as you are choosing your oil ingredients, we’d like to give you as much information upfront so that you can do a real price comparison.

 

Non-GMO Oils 

The non-GMO movement is ever increasing in speed and many manufacturers are jumping on the bandwagon. With this, many manufacturers are only looking at non-GMO ingredient options.

Because if this, it’s important to distinguish which oils are non-GMO. For example, Extra Virgin Olive Oil is one that it is a naturally non-GMO oil — there are no GMO versions of this oil available in the world.

Did you know Safflower and Sunflower are the same? This is in contrast to other oils like soybean and canola, which have an industry standard of GMOs. See the chart below to compare:

GMO industry standard

These three oils we are looking at today (EVOO, Sunflower and Safflower) are the most common naturally non-GMO, high-quality oils that are available. They each have a very high consumer perception (meaning your target market likes to see those ingredients in their foods) and they are also very common in specialty and natural foods and products right now.

With this in mind, let's begin to closely compare and contrast pricing for Safflower & Sunflower Oil against Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We will also compare the organic varieties to the non-organic varieties. Then you can start to get a better picture of the difference in price for each of these oils.

 

Safflower and Sunflower Oil Pricing Is Tied Together 

Before we go too far, it’s important to note that the pricing for [High Oleic] Safflower and Sunflower is intertwined together.

Because these two oils are almost identical in taste and functionality, many manufacturers use both interchangeably using an “and/or ingredient statement”. Because of that, the supply and demand for these oils play off each other, and their pricing tends to switch back and forth as one oil is more in immediate demand than the other.

 

Price Comparison Of Extra Virgin Olive Oil To Safflower and Sunflower Oils 

Over the last few years, the price of Safflower and Sunflower Oil prices can range from $1.15 to $1.57 /Lb. At the same time, Extra Virgin Olive Oil prices range from $2.30 to $2.72/Lb. As you can see, the price of Extra Virgin Olive Oil definitely runs higher than the Safflower or Sunflower Oil.

On the organic side of things, Organic Sunflower ranges from about $1.65 to $2.00 /Lb., while Organic Extra Virgin ranges from $2.69 to $2.99 /Lb. Again, the sunflower oil is typically cheaper than the EVOO — even when comparing organic varieties.

Of course, all of this information is a reflection of the current market and will not be this way forever, as the commodity markets for oils can change in the blink of an eye (or a bad harvest). But for now, it’s a good way to give you an accurate range to compare one to the other.

 

Visual Comparison Of This Pricing 

Note: You will notice pricing shown in the chart below maybe a little off, however the relative comparison remains the same. The price comparison of extra virgin olive oil to safflower and sunflower oils

 

As shown above, Safflower and Sunflower Oil (whether organic or not) is still cheaper than Extra Virgin or Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. At the same time, the difference in price between the regular and organic varieties is a bit more broad with Extra Virgin Olive Oil than with Safflower and Sunflower Oil.

 

In Conclusion 

The key takeaways for food manufacturing purchasing managers are the following:

1. Safflower and Sunflower Oil will be cheaper than Extra Virgin Olive Oil, no matter if you’re comparing conventional (non-GMO) or organic varieties.

2. The price difference between the organic and regular varieties of Safflower and Sunflower Oil is a smaller gap then the difference between Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Organic Extra Virgin Olive oil.

 

Next Steps 

Are you considering switching to any of these Non-GMO oil alternatives? If so, here are some next steps you can take:

Request pricing based on the packaging you need and volume.

Get samples sent to you for R&D to begin the necessary testing. If you’re interested in samples, start with the step above and someone on our team can help you!

Topics: Comparing Oils, Prices & Saving Money, Non-GMO, Sunflower/Safflower Oil

 

 

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