Edible oils & dairy
The cargo before yours is part of your specification.
Crude and refined palm, sunflower and soybean oil, and full cream and skimmed milk powder. Two books that share one discipline: from the tank to the tanker to the shore line, the whole chain is a food-grade chain — and the commonest way to ruin a cargo is what was in the tank before it.
The desk
Everything else on our book is a cargo. This is an ingredient.
A parcel of sunflower oil arriving at a refinery will end up in food that people eat, and every surface it has touched between the crush plant and that refinery is part of its safety history. Ship's tanks, heating coils, pumps, hoses, shore lines and shore tanks — all of it.
Which is why the vegetable oil trade has a discipline no other bulk liquid needs: previous cargo restrictions. The three cargoes carried in a tank before an edible oil are declared, and they have to be on an acceptable list. Some substances are banned outright as immediate previous cargoes and some are banned for two or three voyages back, because residues persist in coatings and in heating coils. A tank that carried an acceptable oil is fine; a tank that carried a non-food chemical may be permanently unsuitable.
This is not paperwork that follows a fixture. It determines which vessels can lift your parcel, and therefore the freight, the timing and sometimes whether the trade exists at all. We establish the previous cargo position before we quote, and a seller who treats the question as an afterthought is telling you they have not shipped edible oil before.
The oils
Four oils, and the fractions are separate products.
Palm in particular is not one oil. It is a family, and contracting "palm oil" without saying which member is an open term.
| Oil | Character | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Crude palm oil (CPO) | High in saturates, semi-solid at ambient in temperate climates, orange-red from carotenoids until refined. | Refinery feedstock. Bought on free fatty acids, moisture and impurities, and deterioration of bleachability index — DOBI, which predicts whether the colour can be refined out at all. |
| RBD palm oil, olein and stearin | Refined, bleached and deodorised, then fractionated into a liquid olein and a solid stearin. | Olein for frying and cooking oil; stearin for bakery fats, margarine and industrial use. Fractions are specified by iodine value and slip melting point, and a contract for "RBD palm" without them has not identified the product. |
| Sunflower oil | Light, neutral, high in polyunsaturates. High-oleic is a distinct product with far better frying stability. | Bottled cooking oil and food manufacture, crude for refining or already RBD. High-oleic should never be contracted as ordinary sunflower — different price, different buyer, different shelf life. |
| Soybean oil | The volume oil of the Americas, high in linoleic acid. | Frying, food manufacture and biodiesel. Its price is tied to the soybean crush rather than to oil demand alone, which makes it move differently from the others. |
Specification
Seven lines, and two of them are about the future rather than the present.
Peroxide value and anisidine value describe where an oil is going, not only where it is — which is what makes them worth insisting on.
| Parameter | What it governs |
|---|---|
| Free fatty acids | Oil already split by moisture, heat or enzyme action. On crude it is refining loss and therefore price; on refined it is a sign the oil has been mishandled since. Expressed as the relevant acid for the oil, which should be stated. |
| Moisture and impurities | Contracted together as M&I. Water drives hydrolysis, which makes more FFA, so a wet parcel gets worse rather than staying still. |
| Peroxide value | Primary oxidation products. A low figure on a parcel that has been stored warm is not necessarily good news — peroxides break down, so PV alone can read low on an oil that is well down the oxidation road. |
| Anisidine value | Secondary oxidation products, which is exactly what PV misses. Together they give the Totox figure. A buyer specifying only PV is looking at half the picture, and this is the single most useful line to add to a standard oil contract. |
| Colour | Lovibond red and yellow in a stated cell length. On crude palm, DOBI alongside it, because a poor DOBI means the colour will not refine out however hard the refinery tries. |
| Iodine value | Degree of unsaturation. It identifies the oil and, on palm fractions, it defines which fraction you actually have. |
| Slip melting point | On palm fractions and hardstocks, the parameter the end user's process is built around. Together with iodine value it is what distinguishes olein from stearin from unfractionated RBD. |
Contaminants
The ones created by refining rather than found in the crop.
Refined vegetable oils carry a category of contaminant that raw commodities do not: substances formed during the deodorisation step itself, at high temperature. They are regulated in the EU under Regulation (EU) 2023/915 and they are a genuine constraint on refining practice.
- 3-MCPD fatty acid esters and glycidyl fatty acid esters
- Both form during high-temperature deodorisation, and palm oil is particularly prone because of its chloride and diglyceride content. Maximum levels apply to refined oils and fats placed on the EU market, with separate and stricter levels for oils intended for infant formula and young-child foods. The current figures are released through the Technical Library rather than published here, because they are amended and a stale table on a website is worse than none.
- Why it changes what you buy
- Mitigation is a refining-process question — feedstock washing, deodorisation temperature and time. It cannot be fixed downstream. So an oil intended for infant nutrition has to come from a refinery that runs a mitigated process, and that is a supplier selection made long before the parcel is offered.
- Mineral oil hydrocarbons
- MOSH and MOAH, from lubricants, jute bag treatments and packaging. Increasingly specified by European food manufacturers even where no statutory limit applies, and worth naming in a contract if your customers ask about it.
- Pesticide residues and PAHs
- To the destination's limits. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons matter particularly where drying used direct-fired heat.
- What we do
- Establish the intended end use first — general food, frying, infant nutrition — because it determines which refineries can supply at all, and we would rather narrow the supplier list at enquiry than fail a specification on arrival.
Palm
Two separate schemes, and only one of them is law.
Palm oil carries a sustainability apparatus that is routinely conflated into a single idea. It is worth separating, because the two things have different purposes and different consequences.
- RSPO is a voluntary certification
- The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil operates supply chain models — Identity Preserved, Segregated, Mass Balance and Book and Claim — which differ enormously in what they actually guarantee about the oil in your tank. Identity Preserved and Segregated deliver physical certified oil; Mass Balance mixes certified and uncertified with volume accounting; Book and Claim is a credit purchased against production elsewhere and involves no physical link at all. All four are legitimate and they are not interchangeable, so the model belongs in the contract and not just the acronym.
- EUDR is law
- Oil palm is one of the seven commodities covered by Regulation (EU) 2023/1115. Following the revision agreed at the end of 2025 it applies to all operators from 30 December 2026, with micro and small enterprises until 30 June 2027. It requires evidence of deforestation-free production against a 31 December 2020 cut-off, legality in the country of production, and a due diligence statement underpinned by plot geolocation.
- And RSPO does not satisfy EUDR
- This is the point most often got wrong on this product. Certification and legal due diligence are different instruments with different evidence requirements. A Mass Balance certificate in particular says nothing about the plots your specific oil came from. Some certified chains will have much of the data EUDR needs; none of them are a substitute for the statement.
- ISCC for energy use
- Where palm or its derivatives go into biofuel rather than food, ISCC EU or a comparable voluntary scheme carries the renewable-energy chain of custody. A third distinct regime, again not interchangeable with either of the above.
- What we do
- Name the RSPO model explicitly in every contract, build the EUDR geolocation and legality file separately, and say plainly which of the three regimes a given document actually satisfies.
Dairy
Milk powder, where the heat class decides the application.
Full cream and skimmed milk powder look identical in a bag and behave completely differently depending on how they were made. The parameter that captures it is one most buyers have never asked for.
| Parameter | What it governs |
|---|---|
| Fat and protein | The grade. Full cream milk powder at around 26 % fat, skimmed at around 1 % or below, with protein stated on a solids-not-fat basis or on total — the basis matters and is often omitted. |
| Whey protein nitrogen index | The heat classification — low, medium or high heat — determined by how much whey protein was denatured during processing. This is the parameter that decides the application. Low heat suits cheese and recombined milk because the protein still functions; high heat suits bakery and recombined evaporated milk where heat stability matters. Substituting one for the other meets every other line on the certificate and fails in the customer's process. |
| Moisture | Shelf life and caking. Milk powder is hygroscopic and moisture is the driver of lactose crystallisation and lumping. |
| Solubility index | How completely the powder redissolves. A poor index means sediment in the reconstituted product, and it points at drying conditions or at storage damage. |
| Scorched particles | A visual standard, graded by disc comparison. Burnt particles from the dryer, and a direct indicator of how well the plant was run. |
| Titratable acidity and free fat | Lipolysis and oxidation. Free fat in particular predicts how the powder will keep and how it will behave in a beverage. |
| Microbiology | Total plate count, coliforms, Salmonella, Cronobacter where the destination requires it, per batch. Non-negotiable, and the reason dairy needs an approved establishment rather than merely a good analysis. |
| Antibiotic residues and melamine | Tested and certified. Both have their own regulatory history in this trade and both are routinely required by destination authorities. |
Scope
Where our obligation ends.
- What we supply
- Crude and refined palm oil and its fractions, sunflower oil crude and RBD, soybean oil, in flexitank, ISO tank, drums and retail PET; and full cream and skimmed milk powder in 25 kg multi-ply bags. On FOSFA terms for the oils, with independent determination at the contractual point.
- What we do not do
- We do not crush, refine, fractionate or dry, we do not operate tank farms or dairies, and we hold no equity in production. We do not offer hedging.
- Previous cargo
- Established and declared before fixing, against the applicable acceptable-list regime. We will not lift an edible oil parcel on a vessel whose previous cargoes cannot be evidenced, whatever the freight saving.
- Certification honesty
- We name the RSPO supply chain model rather than the acronym, and we will say plainly that RSPO does not satisfy EUDR and that ISCC is a third and separate regime. The due diligence statement is the EU operator's obligation.
- Dairy establishment listing
- Confirmed against the destination's approved list before offering. A certificate of analysis from an unlisted plant is not a route to market, and we will not present it as one.
How to specify
Seven lines and we can price it.
Line two narrows the supplier list before anything else does, so it is worth answering honestly rather than generally.
Product, exactly
Which oil, crude or RBD, and for palm which fraction — with iodine value and slip melting point. Or FCMP or SMP with fat and protein.
End use
General food, frying, bakery, infant nutrition, or biofuel. It sets the processing-contaminant limits and the certification regime, and can narrow the supplier list to a handful.
Quality ceilings
FFA, M&I, peroxide value, anisidine value, colour, DOBI on crude palm. On powder, WPNI heat class, solubility index and scorched particles.
Contaminant limits
3-MCPD and glycidyl esters, MOSH and MOAH if your customers ask, pesticide residues, PAHs. On dairy, microbiology, antibiotic residues and melamine.
Certification
RSPO with the supply chain model named, ISCC where the use is energy, halal or kosher, and your EUDR position and timing.
Packing and chain
Flexitank, ISO tank, drums, PET, or 25 kg bags; and for bulk liquid, your previous cargo requirement and heating regime.
Commercial frame
Quantity, shipment window, FOB or CIF, determination point and superintendent, and the FOSFA form and edition.
Inspection
Sampling a liquid that stratifies, and a powder that does not forgive.
Independent determination by a superintendent appointed for the cargo — SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertek — instructed jointly, to the applicable sampling rules. On oils the tank is as much the subject of inspection as the cargo.
- Tank inspection before loading
- Tanks, lines, pumps and heating coils inspected and certified clean and dry, with the previous three cargoes declared and checked against the acceptable list. Coating condition recorded. This happens before loading or it does not happen at all.
- Sampling — oils
- Upper, middle and lower samples from each shore tank and each ship's tank, plus a composite, sealed and retained. Oils stratify and partially solidify, so a single sample from a valve is not a sample of the parcel.
- Analysis — oils
- FFA, moisture and impurities, peroxide value, anisidine value, colour, iodine value and slip melting point as applicable, DOBI on crude palm, and the processing contaminants where the end use requires them. Methods named.
- Sampling and analysis — dairy
- Statistically drawn bag sample with the number of bags stated. Fat, protein, moisture, WPNI, solubility index, scorched particles, titratable acidity and free fat, plus the full microbiological panel, antibiotic residues and melamine, per batch.
- Temperature and condition
- On heated parcels, the heating regime agreed in the fixture and the temperature log obtained — overheating causes oxidation and undereating causes solidification, and both are avoidable with a written regime. On powder, containers lined and desiccated, photographed at loading and devanning.
- Documentation per parcel
- Certificate of quality with methods named, tank cleanliness and previous cargo certificates, temperature log, health certificate, halal or kosher certification where required, RSPO or ISCC documentation with the model stated, EUDR data pack where applicable, establishment listing evidence on dairy, weight certificate, bill of lading and the superintendent's report with photographs.
Straight answer
What we will tell you before you ask.
- That the previous cargo decides which ships can lift your parcel
- Not a formality that follows a fixture. It sets the freight, the timing and sometimes whether the trade is possible, and we establish it before quoting.
- That peroxide value alone is half the picture
- Peroxides break down, so a warm-stored oil can read low and still be well oxidised. Add anisidine value. It is the single most useful line to put into a standard oil contract.
- That "RBD palm oil" is not a product
- It is a family. Iodine value and slip melting point identify which fraction you are actually buying, and without them the contract is open.
- That RSPO does not satisfy EUDR
- Different instruments, different evidence. A Mass Balance certificate says nothing about the plots your oil came from. Name the supply chain model in the contract and build the EUDR file separately.
- That WPNI decides what milk powder is for
- Low, medium and high heat powders meet the same fat and protein spec and behave completely differently in the customer's process. If nobody has asked you for a heat class, that is the question to ask.
Enquiries
Every enquiry is answered by the desk that handles it.
Send the product, quantity, delivery basis, destination and timing. We revert with availability, an indication and the documentation that accompanies it. Specifications are released once we know who we are speaking with.