Edible Oil Marketing in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Traditionally, the people of Tamil Nadu use groundnut oil, gingelly oil and coconut oil for cooking. In recent times, they have started using cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil and imported oils such as palmolein. In the area selected for the present study, edible oils such as groundnut oil, gingelly oil and coconut oil are produced largely in the districts of Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari by using seeds obtained from earlier harvest and those got from other states. There are 203 units engaged in manufacturing edible oils in those districts.Edible oil industries suffer from inefficient process technology and uneconomical plant capacity. Adequate attention has not been paid to marketing function, which is especially required in the modern context of the free market economy. If the market is imperfect, mere improvement in the production technologies will not serve the purpose fully. Edible oil markets are dominated by middlemen and speculators. Moreover, processors have to withstand severe competition from cheap imported oils. This feature offers a fair scope for a study relation to marketing and this study is a humble attention in that direction.