Under the auspices of Edible Oils 05, trade is due to meet in Seville from 21 to 21 September to examine the full product range of oils on the market.
The organisers of the trade event, Survey, say they will pump €1.5 million into ensuring the fair 'becomes a business hub for all companies which produce, process, package and/or commercialise edible oils and/or fats for consumption or industrial use.'
Supplies for a range of vegetable oils used extensively by the food industry are slated to rise for 2004/05 year on stronger yields for peanuts, soybeans and rape seed oil, building up global stocks to about 390.5 million tons.
Rape seed, soybeans and peanuts are all experiencing strong market growth as food makers continue to turn away from animal fats in favour of vegetable alternatives.
By 2008 analysts Business Communications Company predict these key vegetable edible oils will account for 69.9 per cent of the US market.
US production of major crude vegetable oils is slated to reach 8.6 million metric tons in 2008, with soybean oil accounting for nearly 87 per cent of the major vegetable oil production at 7.4 million metric tons.
Today, soybean oil - together with palm oil - accounts for over half of all oil consumed in the world. Rape seed also enjoys a strong share of the market but in recent months supplies, and prices, have been severely impacted by a pulling of stocks from China and a dip in supplies due to poor harvests.
In each of the last four years world soybean production has fallen short of consumption, forcing a draw-down of global stocks. Prices recently hit 15-year highs although they have eased in recent weeks on growing supplies.
But a recent WASDE report from the US department of agriculture confirms increased availability has brought some relief to the price of soybeans.
The vegetable oil market is undergoing some pressure from the market to design trans fat free alternatives for food makers looking to slice these artery-clogging fats out of formulations.
Trans fatty acids (TFAs) are formed when liquid vegetable oils go through a chemical process called hydrogenation.
Firms are already heeding the market opportunity for trans fat free products. Dow AgroSciences, for example, the Indianapolis-based biotech subsidiary of chemical giant Dow Chemical, recently introduced Natreon canola oil, crushed from the high yield Nexera seed, as a 'naturally stable alternative to partially hydrogenated oils'.