Belizean Soybeans Reach Kitchens Nationwide As Green Valley Oil

Belize’s newest cooking oil did not begin with a recipe. It began with a surplus. After producing more crude soybean oil than the local market could absorb, Green Valley Oil invested fifteen million dollars in a new refinery at Spanish Lookout. The facility, officially opened today, will turn locally grown soybeans into cooking oil for kitchens across the country. Now, the company must prove its homegrown product can compete with imported brands on price, quality and health benefits. Shane Williams reports.

 

Shane Williams, Reporting

What began as excess oil sitting in storage is now being bottled as a new Belizean product. More than five years ago, the board of Quality Poultry Products began exploring ways to process the crude soybean oil left over from its local feed operation. The company had already invested in an oil expeller, but as soybean production increased, so did the amount of unused oil. Instead of allowing that supply to go to waste, the company invested fifteen million dollars to refine it for the local cooking-oil market.

 

Norman Dyck, Former Board Member, Quality Poultry Products
“Quality Feed Mill gave out contracts to grow soybeans to the farmers and they would buy it at a very reasonable price. So in 2017 is when we bought the oil expeller. So we solved one problem. So we would, we didn’t have to go find a foreign exchange, but we created another one and that problem was we had too much crude soy oil for Belizean market, and it started to stock up. I have heard the board say that at the time of ordering the refinery, they produced half the capacity of this refinery, but now they are producing more oil than the refinery can handle.”

 

That surplus has now created a new opportunity. Green Valley Oil officially cut the ribbon on its refinery in Spanish Lookout today. The facility will transform crude soybean oil into a finished product the company says can offer Belizeans a healthier and more affordable alternative to imported cooking oils.

 

Daniel Braun, Manager, Green Valley Oil
“This is a natural oil and there has been no hydrogenation to the oil, meaning that it has a really long chain of bonds making it hard to digest as the normal imported oils are. These has not had that phase happening, the hydrogenation. So I really believe this is a good quality oil that is, when it comes to vegetable oil, I sincerely believe this is the best vegetable oil out there.”

 

But the investment goes beyond putting another bottle of cooking oil on supermarket shelves. By processing soybeans locally, the company can create more value from Belizean agriculture, reduce dependence on imported products and potentially open the door to regional exports. Agriculture Minister Rodwell Ferguson says that kind of value-added production gives Belizean businesses a better chance of competing in CARICOM, Central America and other international markets.

 

Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Agriculture
“I applaud them for their initiative, for their focus to start to do processing, because I believe our raw products has no value. But when you value add, then you can go out there and bargain on the CARICOM market, on the Central American market and the international market. And what they are saying, they have pure vegetable oil. Because when you buy oil from abroad, then there is something in it that carry up your cholesterol. So I want to test the oil to make sure that my cholesterol remain at normal level.”

 

Green Valley Oil says its locally produced cooking oil is now available at grocery stores across the country. And the company is giving consumers an added reason to try it: a twenty-five percent discount this Friday and Saturday at Quality Poultry stores nationwide. What started as too much crude soybean oil has become a multimillion-dollar push to put more Belizean products in Belizean kitchens and, eventually, on shelves beyond the country’s borders. Shane Williams for News Five.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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