Vegetable oil — guide and verified prices

What vegetable oil actually is, what it’s good for, smoke point, real nutrition facts, and verified prices in Lima.

Prices in this article were pulled directly from Plaza Vea’s public API on July 20, 2026 (not from an automatic summary) and change constantly due to promotions and stock — use the source link to confirm the current price.

In Peru, “aceite vegetal” (vegetable oil) is almost always a blend of seed oils (soybean, sunflower, among others), refined to neutralize flavor and smell so they can be blended without competing with each other. It’s the oil you’ll find in the biggest, cheapest bottle in the grocery aisle.

Why it’s so neutral

Because of the refining process, vegetable oil loses most of the flavor compounds naturally present in the source seed — it’s neutral on purpose, so it doesn’t change the flavor of whatever you’re cooking. That’s the main difference from olive oil, which keeps the olive’s own flavor.

Smoke point

Refined vegetable oil (sunflower, soybean, canola) has an approximate smoke point of 204 to 232 °C1 — similar to a refined or “pure” olive oil, and higher than an unrefined extra virgin.

The brands in Peru

Peru’s vegetable oil market is dominated by Alicorp brands — Primor, Cocinero, and Deleite are the ones you’ll find at almost any supermarket or corner store, alongside each supermarket’s own private label2.

Brand Position
Primor Alicorp’s “premium” brand, with Clásico and Premium lines
Cocinero Another Alicorp brand, general use
Deleite Also Alicorp, Premium line
Bell’s Plaza Vea’s private label

Nutrition facts (verified data)

There’s no public nutrition label for generic “vegetable oil” specifically — as a reference, sunflower oil is used, one of the most common seed oils in the blends sold in Peru:

Per 100 g (sunflower oil)3 Amount
Energy 884 kcal
Saturated fat 10.3 g
Monounsaturated fat 19.5 g
Polyunsaturated fat 65.7 g
Vitamin E 41.1 mg

Unlike olive oil (mostly monounsaturated), sunflower oil — and most refined vegetable oils — is mostly polyunsaturated fat.

Verified price (per liter)

Product Size Price Price per liter (calculated) Source
Bell’s 900 ml bottle S/ 5.60 ≈ S/ 6.22/L Plaza Vea
Deleite Premium 900 ml bottle S/ 7.30 ≈ S/ 8.11/L Plaza Vea
Primor Clásico 900 ml bottle S/ 8.40 ≈ S/ 9.33/L Plaza Vea
Cocinero 900 ml bottle S/ 9.80 ≈ S/ 10.89/L Plaza Vea

Verdict

  • 💰 Best verified price: Bell’s (≈ S/ 6.22/L), Plaza Vea’s private label.
  • 🍳 Recommended use: frying and everyday medium-high heat cooking, where its high smoke point and neutral flavor are exactly what you need.
  • 🤔 If flavor matters to you: that’s what olive oil is for, not vegetable oil — here neutrality is the feature, not a flaw.

Sources


  1. Fond Kitchen — “Cooking Oil Smoke Points” ↩︎

  2. Brands confirmed directly in Plaza Vea’s catalog — see the price links below. ↩︎

  3. Wikipedia (en) — “Sunflower oil”, data from USDA FoodData Central. ↩︎