Vegetable oils: production worldwide 2012/13-2022/23, by type

The production volume of vegetable oil in the 2021/22 crop year exceeded 200 million metric tons worldwide. Among the major categories of vegetable oil, palm oil had the highest volume of production, at 73.83 million metric tons in that time period.

Palm Oil Production

Palm oil is a common oil in consumer products and processed foods. It is produced by harvesting palm fruit from the oil palm tree and extracting the oil from the fruit. Palm oil stands out from other types of oil because the yield is very high for a relatively small area of land use. The global production volume of palm oil has risen steadily over the last several years, and there is a large and active export market for palm oil. The leading exporters of palm oil worldwide were Indonesia and Malaysia.

Consumption of Soybean Oil in the United States

In the United States, soybean oil is the most consumed type of edible oil. It is often found in fried foods, canned fish, salad dressing, and margarine. Americans consumed some 11.6 million metric tons of soybean oil in 2022, over three times more than the second most consumed type of oil, canola oil.