Margarine & Bakery Fats (Table, Cake, Pastry & Puff Pastry Margarine)

Table margarine and fat spreads, and cake, pastry and puff pastry margarines bought on fat content, plasticity and trans fat

Margarine is a water-in-fat emulsion, with fine droplets of water held in a solid fat phase, made by emulsifying a blend of oils and fats that can be modified by fractionation, interesterification or hydrogenation to the melting profile the product needs. The name is regulated. In the EU, margarine is a product obtained from vegetable and/or animal fats with a fat content of not less than 80% but less than 90%; three-quarter-fat margarine has 60–62% fat, half-fat margarine 39–41%, and other levels are sold as fat spreads with the percentage stated, under Annex VII of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013. In the USA, the standard of identity at 21 CFR 166.110 requires not less than 80% fat and not less than 15,000 IU of vitamin A per pound, with not less than 1,500 IU of vitamin D per pound where vitamin D is added, and allows emulsifiers, preservatives, salt, colours and flavours. The trade splits into two markets. Table margarine and fat spreads go to retailers, distributors and private-label desks in retail and foodservice packs. Bakery margarines go to industrial and craft bakeries, which buy cake margarine, pastry margarine and puff pastry margarine on how the fat behaves in the dough rather than on the name. Puff pastry is laminated by rolling and folding fat between layers of dough, and industrial producers use a margarine formulated for high plasticity, so that it spreads very thin without breaking. The specification states fat content, moisture and salt, the melting point and solid fat profile the bakery works to, FFA, peroxide value and trans fat. For customs, margarine other than liquid margarine is HS 1517.10, and liquid margarine and other edible mixtures or preparations of fats fall under HS 1517.90.

UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 1517.10 total USD 1.89 billion and about 1.07 million MT across 107 reporters: Poland USD 286 million and 180,500 MT, Belgium USD 224 million and 122,700 MT, the Netherlands USD 115 million, Indonesia USD 104 million and 98,500 MT, Germany USD 95 million, Denmark USD 73 million, Spain USD 62 million, Malaysia USD 58 million and 40,900 MT, Kenya USD 54 million, Italy USD 52 million, Brazil USD 51 million and Türkiye USD 48 million and 36,800 MT. Those are declared export values, not offers. Trans fat sits on every specification: WHO's best-practice policy limits industrially produced trans fat to 2 g per 100 g of total fat in all foods or bans partially hydrogenated oils, and the EU applies a cap of 2 g per 100 g of fat to food for consumers and retail under Regulation (EU) 2019/649. Halal status turns on the minor ingredients as much as on the fat. Mono- and diglycerides (E471) are mainly made from vegetable oils but animal fats cannot be fully excluded, and vitamin D3 can be made from lanolin, so emulsifiers, vitamins and flavourings are specified from halal-certified sources and the halal certificate comes from a body the destination accepts. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers table margarine, fat spreads and bakery margarines from manufacturers in Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Indonesia, Malaysia, Türkiye and Brazil, in the maker's brand or the buyer's private label, against a certificate of analysis for fat, moisture, salt, FFA, peroxide value, melting point and trans fat, the origin authority's health certificate, a certificate of origin and the halal certificate. Retail tubs, foodservice packs and bakery cartons move in 20-ft or 40-ft containers, dry or reefer as the manufacturer's storage temperature requires, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms; minimum runs are confirmed per product and pack. Send the product, fat content, melting point, trans fat limit, halal certifier, pack, label market and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

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Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.