Refined Canola Oil: export from Canada to ASEAN

Refined canola oil is bought to a finished specification, which makes it the simplest canola product to contract and the least forgiving to get wrong. Refined, bleached and deodorised oil is defined by colour, free fatty acid, peroxide value, flavour and oxidative stability, and the last of those decides shelf life in the destination climate, which matters more in Southeast Asia than it does in Canada.

Buyers without crushing or refining capacity should be quoting refined rather than crude. The arithmetic on importing crude to toll-refine rarely works at food-import volumes, and it introduces a second counterparty into a specification you then own.

Format drives landed cost more than most buyers expect. Flexitank, ISO tank, drums and IBC totes have different minimum volumes, different handling requirements and different terminal access assumptions. Confirm what your destination port and your own facility can actually receive before optimising the oil price.

Canada's crush and refining capacity means supply is steady through the year rather than tied to harvest. Specify oxidative stability explicitly if the product is going into a hot, humid supply chain: it is the parameter most often left out and most often regretted.