South Korea: Vegetable Oil Market Overview

This report analyzes all vegetable oil markets in Korea, whether for food or industrial use, and covers oils derived from soybean, palm, palm kernel, olive, rapeseed/canola, grapeseed, sunflower seed, corn, coconut, sesame, perilla seed (a leafy plant from the mint family), and rice bran. Supply of vegetable oil in Korea is mainly imported, and the top three oils – palm oil, soybean oil, and rapeseed (canola) oil – are substitutes for each other, resulting in varying market share of each oil depending on global market price fluctuations. Sesame and perilla seed oil consumption remains almost constant from year to year, as these oils have a distinct consumer market for flavoring traditional Korean dishes. The share of biodiesel in the total vegetable oil market stands at around 20 percent, but it is expected to increase gradually in line with the Korean government’s plans to expand the biodiesel blending mandate.