Salad oil is out of stock, Nan City Government steps in to strictly check stockpiling and stabilize supply

Nan City Economic Development Bureau visited food factories to understand the oil supply situation. (Provided by Tainan City Government)

Some catering operators and traditional market stalls reported insufficient supply and rising prices of barreled salad oil. In order to ensure stable supply in the edible oil market, Nan City Government proactively intervened in the investigation and actively visited and coordinated with edible oil suppliers, requiring the implementation of distribution channel management, strictly prohibiting improper hoarding, ensuring normal circulation of oil products, and maintaining stable market supply.

Tainan Mayor Huang Weizhe said that the city government attaches great importance to market supply and price stability, and has tasked relevant units to proactively grasp the supply and demand situation of various channels, and actively coordinate and deal with the shortage problems reported by catering operators and traditional market vendors.

The Economic Development Bureau visited the industry to understand the production and supply situation of edible oil. According to the industry, the current factory production capacity has increased by about 20% compared with the original production capacity, and has reached the current production capacity limit. In addition, 3,000 tons of crude oil have been provided to Taiwan Sugar for refining, and it is expected to supply the market with at least 170,000 barrels of oil products in the next 2 to 3 months. The industry will strengthen audits of dealers' inventory and sales. If improper hoarding is found, supply will be stopped, and dealers will be promoted to give priority to local food companies in Tainan.

On the supply side, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has coordinated with domestic oil product manufacturers to increase production, adding a total of 4,400 tons of salad oil supply per month. Taiwan Sugar is expected to increase the supply by 700 tons starting from December this year. On the import side, the Executive Yuan has also lowered the import tariff of salad oil to zero to encourage manufacturers to expand imports. The city government calls on businesses to jointly maintain market supply order, avoid downstream hoarding and improper hoarding, prevent market panic caused by panic buying or hoarding, ensure stable supply of edible oil, and protect people's livelihood needs.