Global vegetable oil production set to hit another record high

According to the latest outlook published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), 2022/23 global production of vegetable oils will amount to 219.8 million tonnes. This would be an 8.3 million tonne rise compared to 2021/22. In other words, production will presumably fully cover demand of 213.6 million tonnes also in the current crop year.

According to investigations conducted by Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), palm oil is set to remain the world’s most important vegetable oil in terms of production and consumption, with global output estimated at 79.2 million tonnes. This translates to a 3.2 million tonne increase over 2021/22. In other words, palm oil accounts for just over 36 per cent of global vegetable oil production. Indonesia remains the largest palm oil producer with an output of 46.5 million tonnes, followed by Malaysia with 19.8 million tonnes and Thailand with just less than 3.3 million tonnes.

Production of soybean oil is expected to grow 4.2 per cent to 61.9 million tonnes and could hit a new record. China remains the most important producer with production amounting to 17.2 million tonnes, whereas the USA ranks second with just under 11.9 million tonnes. Production of rapeseed oil is seen to amount to 31.5 million tonnes, around 8.5 per cent more than the previous crop year due to unexpectedly abundant yields and high oil contents.

Production of sunflower oil will probably expand around 1 percent to 20.1 million tonnes in 2022/23, although global supply of sunflowerseed is clearly short of the previous year’s figure despite an expansion the area planted. The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e. V. (UFOP) has pointed out that farmers in Germany also expanded their sunflower areas in 2022 because of persistently high prices for sunflower oil. Although not all yield expectations were fulfilled due to the extreme heat, the German sunflower hectarage for the 2023 harvest is expected to remain stable.