Palm oil industry worldwide - statistics & facts

International trade

As might be expected from the largest production sources, Indonesia and Malaysia are also the largest exporters of palm oil worldwide, shipping out a total of over 28.8 million and 17 million metric tons respectively in 2020/2021. India imports the most palm oil of any country, with an import value of about 5.5 billion U.S. dollars for 2020. That year, over one billion U.S. dollars value of palm oil was imported into the United States. As of October 2020, palm oil stocks stood at around 376 million pounds in the United States.

Consumer market

Since 2016, the consumption of palm oil within the European Union has increased. However, environmental concerns about palm oil cultivation include deforestation and air pollution, has led a significant number of consumers to seek alternatives. Indonesia increased efforts to have certified sustainable hectares of palm oil plantations, where plantations follow specific social and environmental standards. However, with just under two million hectares certified, the rest of the 14.6 million hectares of the country's oil palm plantations are not certified sustainable. In Latin America, just over 340 thousand hectares planted with oil palm trees have a sustainability certification.

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