Vegetable oils—production, disappearance and trade

World production of oils and fats—currently about 117 million tonnes per annum—comes from vegetable and animal sources. Oil World publications recognise 17 commodity oils, of which four are of animal origin. The remainder are from vegetable sources and the following chapters of this book cover all these except castor oil, which is used solely for industrial purposes. The statements made in this section are supported by the detailed information in the accompanying Tables. 

Of the total production of oils and fats, about 80% is used for food purposes (which will be described here in appropriate chapters), 6% is used in animal feed, and the remaining 14% provides the basis of the oleochemical industry (Gunstone and Hamilton 2001). 

Within the sources of vegetable oils it is useful to distinguish three different types  

Another distinction that is sometimes made is between oilseed crops and those vegetable oils which come from the endosperm (soft fleshy fruit). Palm and olive belong to this category. 

Most of the crops are produced annually at harvest time, which comes late in the calendar year in the northern hemisphere and early in the calendar year in the 

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