Palm change. Can Russia do without the tropics? Russia is in the top three world leaders in the use of palm oil for food World prices for palm oil

RUSSIA IS IN THE TOP THREE OF THE WORLD LEADERS IN THE USE OF PALM OIL IN FOOD It is included in more than half of the products.

And although doctors talk about the dangers of using it, and in the West they are discussing bans on the import of palm oil, more and more of it is being imported into the Russian Federation. From sweets to cottage cheese. How palm oil has become the main component in Russian food The rapidly growing world production of palm oil can destroy the tropical flora and fauna of many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, environmentalists say. Doctors are warning about the dangers of its use in food, some Western states and large grocery chains are discussing a possible ban on its import for food purposes. More and more palm oil is being imported into Russia - otherwise the store shelves may be noticeably empty, experts say. India, Russia and China are the three world leaders in palm oil consumption for food, 90% of which is now produced by Indonesia and Malaysia. Three years ago, the volume of global production of palm oil came out on top among all other vegetable oils, outstripping, for example, sunflower oil by 2.5 times. The world's largest oil palm growing area is the island of Borneo, divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and tiny Brunei. Over the past 15 years, exactly half of all tropical forests have been cut down here - for the sake of oil plantations. According to the Regional Office of the Malaysian Palm Oil Producers Council (MPOC), these are former agricultural lands. In total, oil palm plantings occupy more than 250 thousand square kilometers on the planet - this is more than the area of ​​Great Britain or Romania.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released a special report on June 26, stating that the mass clearing of the jungle for oil palm plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as in Central Africa and South America, has brought some of the local animal species to the brink of extinction, including including orangutans, tigers, rhinos and monkeys. Since the beginning of 2018, 335,000 tons of palm oil of various varieties and its fractions have been imported to Russia, which is more than 30% more than in 2017, judging by the reporting of Rosstat. According to forecasts, by the end of the year the volume will reach one million tons. Palm oil, as experts constantly emphasize, is part of more than half of all food products sold: from buns, chocolates, ice cream and pasta to surrogate or simply falsified cheeses, butter and cottage cheese, where milk fats are substituted for them. According to the MPOC, palm oil contains no cholesterol, claims of its carcinogenic properties are fiction, and it is "the world's recognized healthy alternative to the detrimental trans fats." Moreover, the Council said that palm oil is used in the manufacture of "far from cheap and low-quality goods", citing Nestlé Corporation, which buys 420 tons of oil annually, as an example. At the same time, in Russia, unlike most other states, there are no legislative acts regulating the import of palm oil. The growth of its imports into the country, as experts point out, is associated not only with economic, but also with political factors. In the spring of 2018, Moscow signed a contract for the supply of 11 Su-35 fighter jets worth $1.14 billion.

Under the terms of the deal, Indonesia will cover part of this amount by sending tens of thousands of tons of palm oil to Russia. The range of products in the production of which palm oil is used is very wide. Consumers only know about those that the media talk and write about a lot. For example, dairy products. Because people are accustomed to dairy products, they consume a lot of them, and the fact that they have changed their taste, appearance, and so on clearly shows what they began to add there. But in fact, the same confectionery industry uses no less palm oil. Simply confectioners somehow try not to notice these questions. However, all bakery and confectionery products with a long shelf life use palm oil. As well as palm oils are used in other industries, but in smaller volumes, of course. The main consumers of this import are the dairy and confectionery industries.

What is the quality of palm oil? Technical grades of oil are imported, and besides, in improper, non-food containers, in wagons intended for products that are not used in the food industry. Even frankly technical oils with poor cleaning are used for the production of products. (The MPOC of Radio Liberty stated that the concept of "technical" palm oil does not exist). Today, an active struggle does not begin in Russia against the use of palm and other tropical oils for one reason: the incomes of the people are not the same! The import of these oils makes it possible to produce cheaper products so that the store shelves are not empty. In general, this problem has not yet been solved by any regulatory acts or laws. In addition, the volume of milk production in Russia has now begun to grow - and at the same time cases of counterfeit detection have aggravated, including the replacement of milk fats with palm oil. Most likely, in the next five years, the fight against its widespread use, especially illegal ones, when they replace the real product, without being indicated on the label, will intensify. There are a lot of fakes in the country. Against the background of speeches that "we will make a cheaper and more accessible product", for example, margarine is being produced, which is called the word "butter" - and which costs much more than it would cost if it were frankly written on it that it is "spread" made with palm oil.

Palm oil is a product with a scandalous reputation. It is often used in the food industry to reduce the cost of production. They replace milk fat. There is a lot of talk in the media and on the Internet that it is unhealthy. This issue was brought up for broad discussion last year during a direct line with President Vladimir Putin.

Palm oil is several times cheaper than milk, which is why Russian producers of mayonnaise, processed cheese, margarine and dozens of other products prefer it. This allows them to cut costs, but - alas - comes at the expense of the well-being of ordinary Russians.


Even if we assume that palm oil is harmless (this point of view is in relation to high-quality varieties), it is definitely inferior to milk fat in terms of nutritional and taste properties. Let's discuss the current situation with the import of palm oil to Russia.
Watch the video of the Economy program on the Crimea-24 TV channel

Release archive.
I'll start with international comparisons. While preparing for this show, I found it titled Cars and Trucks Burn Half of the Palm Oil Used in Europe. It's a fairly common practice there.

A third of this type of oil is used for food production (just like ours, in order to reduce the cost of their production). A very small share goes to the preparation of livestock feed, as well as cosmetics, creams, and hair care products. Everything else is used as biodiesel for engine operation, and as an energy carrier for space heating and electricity generation.


By the way, palm oil is not the only and not the most important type of biodiesel fuel. For the operation of motors, the most demanded is rapeseed oil. Sunflower and soy are also used.


Let's turn to the part of palm oil that is eaten in Europe. Last year it was 2 million 900 thousand tons . With a population of half a billion in the EU, this is almost 6 kilograms per year per 1 European. Compare with Russian indicators. Russia imported last year 885 thousand tons palm oil.


In our country, alternative energy has not yet received rapid development, as in Europe. Therefore, conditionally, with a stretch, we will accept that all imported palm oil went into the food industry. How much does it come out per year for 1 Russian? Surprisingly, the numbers are similar. Approximately 6 kilograms per person per year, both in Europe and in our country. We have a little more, they have a little less, but the scale of penetration of this milk replacer on our shelves is about the same. Tellingly, in Europe this phenomenon is on the decline. The EU is smoothly recovering from palm addiction.




Let's look at US palm oil consumption. This is also data purely for the food industry.


As you can see, in recent years there has been a sharp jump from insignificant levels to quite large ones, and the dynamics is clearly upward. Manufacturers who like to replace milk fats with vegetable fats are clearly liking it. So far, there is not much per capita, just over 3 kilograms per person per year. This is 2 times less than in Europe and Russia, but the growth rate is impressive. As if at the beginning of the 2000s, some floodgates opened, and the American food industry was flooded with flows of this cheap product.
In India, by the way, the situation is similar. There is also a palm boom. The graph shows growth from zero values ​​to space. Now it is already 7 kilograms per person per year, that is, higher than in Europe and Russia.


According to the latest data from Rosstat in Russia this year, palm oil imports began to decline. Prior to that, he showed growth for two years. From January to September, the drop was 5,6% . There are several reasons for this.
First. Prices for sunflower oil have fallen in Russia. On average in the country, it has fallen in price by 10%.


Its competitiveness has increased, and it began to displace the palm. The food industry, which requires vegetable fats, began to switch from exotic palm to native sunflower.
The second reason is the activities of Rospotrebnadzor. He seriously tightened control over falsification of products. Attempts to hide the content of palm oil in the product has become much less. At the same time, food supplies to social institutions have been and remain under the special supervision of Rospotrebnadzor.

Third reason: public attention. After a direct line with the President, all citizens of the country learned about this problem. Many did not pay attention to the labels before, but now they began to track what they buy and refuse products that contain palm oil.
Fourth reason- marking. Starting from 2018, milk and dairy products producers will be required to indicate on the packaging in contrastingly large print that it contains palm oil. Therefore, some factories are already refusing this ingredient in order not to have problems with sales in the future.
And finally, the fifth reason is world prices.


From 2010 to 2015, they fell, which increased the attractiveness of this product. But over the past year, prices have shown a slight increase. This was enough for the use of palm oil in Russia to begin to decline.

We will not discuss whether palm oil is beneficial for the body or harmful, since we have an economic program.


But for foreign trade, the benefits of abandoning it are quite obvious. Producing food from domestic ingredients is another step towards import substitution. Therefore, I hope our food industry will use this dubious product less and less. It is in our power to speed this up by carefully checking what is written on the labels.

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The global palm oil market is one of the fastest growing markets. The volume of production and foreign trade of this natural herbal product derived from the fruit of the oil palm is steadily increasing.

The main producers and exporters of palm oil in the world market are Indonesia and Malaysia. Their share of total palm oil production is 53% and 35% respectively. Palm oil is also produced in small quantities in Thailand, Colombia and Nigeria. These countries use palm oil exclusively for domestic consumption. Based on data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the distribution of palm oil production by region of the world is as follows.

Major palm oil producing countries
(million tons)

A country	Period
	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13
Indonesia	44,0	45,9	47,9	50,7	53,3
Malaysia	20,5	22,0	23,6	25,9	28,0
Thailand	17,3	17,8	18,2	18,2	18,5
Colombia
Nigeria

Palm oil is now imported to almost every country in the world. According to the World Trade Organization, there are currently no bans on the import of palm oil in the world. Import restrictions in the form of licensing and quotas also do not apply. The main importers of palm oil are India, China and EU countries. The volumes of imported raw materials tend to increase, as evidenced by the data presented in the table.

Major importers of palm oil
(million tons)

A country	Period
	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13
India
PRC
EU
Pakistan
Malaysia
Egypt
USA
Bangladesh
Singapore
Japan

Most of the imported palm oil is used for food purposes: for the production of oil and fat, confectionery, dairy products using vegetable fat, children's and dietary food. The food industry uses only refined deodorized palm oil. Such raw materials do not contain phosphorus-containing substances, waxes, free fatty acids, coloring substances, that is, the taste and smell of the oil are impersonal. In addition, on its basis, you can get a product that does not contain cholesterol and trans-isomers that are hazardous to health.

But still, the safety of consuming products based on palm oil still raises a lot of doubts. Let's try to figure out whether there is a direct relationship between the consumption of palm oil per capita and the mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases. To do this, consider the table, the data of which are presented on the basis of statistics from the World Health Organization and the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation.

Palm oil consumption (food purposes) and mortality
from cardiovascular disease

A country	Palm oil consumption per capita (kg)	CVD mortality rate* per 100,000 people population
Malaysia		214,5
Indonesia		240,8
Pakistan		342,5
India		282,2
EU		149,8**
Russia		492,5

*- ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease
**- average of 27 EU countries

As can be seen from the table, the largest consumption of palm oil comes from its traditional producer - Malaysia, where it is about 36 kg per capita. One Russian has about 3 kg of palm oil per year, which is 12 times less than in Malaysia. At the same time, the mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases in the Russian Federation exceeds the same indicator of the main consumer of palm oil by more than 2 times. And this is without taking into account the level of income of the population and the level of medicine, which are much higher in Russia. Obviously, palm oil consumption is not a factor influencing the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and the mortality rate from them.

Palm oil today is a safe, convenient and inexpensive raw material for the production of various food products, the global demand for which is constantly increasing..

Palm oil is literally everywhere: in our food, cosmetics, cleaning products and fuel. It is a source of huge profits for multinational corporations. Displacement of indigenous peoples, deforestation and loss of biodiversity are all consequences of our consumption of palm oil. How could this happen? And is there anything else that can be done?

True Story

Long ago, in a land far, far away, a magical fruit grew. This fruit could be squeezed to make a special kind of oil that makes cookies healthier, soaps more foamy, and chips more crunchy. The oil could even make the lipstick smoother and keep the ice cream from melting. Because of these wonderful qualities, people from all over the world came to this fruit and made a lot of oil out of it. In places where fruits grew, people burned the forest to plant more trees with this fruit, creating a lot of smoke and chasing all the forest creatures out of their homes. The burning forests gave off a gas that warmed the air. It only stopped some people, but not all. The fruit was too good.

Unfortunately, this is a true story. The fruit of the oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis), which grows in tropical climates, contains the most versatile cooking oil in the world. It may not deteriorate when frying and mixes well with other oils. Its low production costs make it cheaper than cottonseed or sunflower oil. It provides foam in almost every shampoo, liquid soap or detergent. Cosmetics manufacturers prefer it to animal fat for ease of use and low price. It is increasingly being used as a cheap feedstock for biofuels, especially in the European Union. It acts as a natural preservative in processed foods and actually raises the melting point of ice cream. The trunks and leaves of the oil palm tree can be used in everything from plywood to the composite body of the National Car of Malaysia.

World palm oil production has been steadily growing for five decades. From 1995 to 2015, annual production quadrupled from 15.2 million tons to 62.6 million tons. It is expected to quadruple again by 2050 to reach 240 million tons. The volume of palm oil production is astonishing: plantations for its production account for 10% of the world's permanent arable land. Today, 3 billion people in 150 countries use products containing palm oil. Globally, each of us consumes an average of 8 kg of palm oil per year.

Of these, 85% are in Malaysia and Indonesia, where the global demand for palm oil has boosted incomes, especially in rural areas, but at the cost of massive environmental destruction and often associated violations of labor and human rights. The main source of greenhouse gas emissions in Indonesia, a country of 261 million people, are fires aimed at clearing forests and creating new palm plantations. The financial incentive to produce more palm oil is warming the planet, while destroying the only habitat for Sumatran tigers, Sumatran rhinos and orangutans, pushing them towards extinction.

However, consumers are often unaware that they are even using this product. Palm oil research lists over 200 common ingredients in food and home and personal care products that contain palm oil, only about 10% of which include the word "palm".

How did it enter our lives?

How has palm oil penetrated every corner of our lives? No innovation has led to a dramatic increase in palm oil consumption. Instead, it was the perfect product at the right time for industry after industry, each of which used it to replace ingredients and never returned. At the same time, palm oil is viewed by producing countries as a poverty alleviation mechanism, and international financial institutions see it as a growth engine for developing countries. The International Monetary Fund pushed Malaysia and Indonesia to increase production.

As the palm industry has expanded, conservationists and environmental groups such as Greenpeace have begun to raise concerns about its devastating impact on carbon emissions and wildlife habitats. In response, there has been a backlash against palm oil, with UK supermarket Iceland promising last April that it would remove palm oil from all its own brand products by the end of 2018. In December, Norway banned the import of biofuels.

But by the time awareness of palm oil's impact has spread, it has become so deeply ingrained in the consumer economy that it may now be too late to remove it. Tellingly, the Iceland supermarket failed to deliver on its 2018 promise. Instead, the company ended up removing its logo from products containing palm oil.

Determining which products contain palm oil, not to mention how sustainable it was sourced, requires an almost supernatural level of consumer consciousness. In any case, raising consumer awareness in the West won't have much of an impact, given that Europe and the US account for less than 14% of global demand. More than half of global demand comes from Asia.

It's been a good 20 years since the first worries about deforestation in Brazil, when consumer action slowed, not stopped, the destruction. With palm oil, “the reality is that the western world is only a small fraction of the consumer, and the rest of the world doesn't care. So there's not much incentive to change,” said Neil Blomquist, managing director of Colorado's natural habitat, which produces palm oil in Ecuador and Sierra Leone with the highest level of sustainability certification.

Palm oil's worldwide dominance is the result of five factors: first, it has replaced less healthy fats in foods in the West; secondly, manufacturers insist on keeping prices low; third, it has replaced more expensive oils in home and personal care products; fourthly, because of its cheapness, it has been widely accepted as an edible oil in Asian countries; Finally, as Asian countries get richer, they begin to consume more fat, mostly in the form of palm oil.

The widespread use of palm oil began with processed foods. In the 1960s, scientists began to warn that high saturated fat could increase the risk of heart disease. Food manufacturers, including the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Unilever, have begun replacing it with margarine made with vegetable oils and low in saturated fat. However, by the early 1990s, it became clear that the margarine butter manufacturing process, known as partial hydrogenation, actually created a different type of fat, trans fat, which turned out to be even more unhealthy than saturated fat. The board of directors of Unilever saw the formation of a scientific consensus against trans fat and decided to get rid of it. “Unilever has always been very aware of the health concerns of the consumers of its products,” said James W Kinnear, Unilever's board member at the time.

The switch happened suddenly. In 1994, Unilever refinery manager Gerrit Van Dijn received a call from Rotterdam. Twenty Unilever plants in 15 countries were to remove the partially hydrogenated oils from 600 fat blends and replace them with other components.

The project, for reasons Van Dein cannot explain, was called "Paddington". First, he needed to figure out what could replace trans fat while still retaining its favorable properties, such as staying solid at room temperature. In the end, there was only one choice: oil from the oil palm, or palm oil extracted from its fruit, or palm oil from seeds. No other oil can be refined to the consistency required for Unilever's various margarine blends and baked goods without the production of trans fats. It was the only alternative to partially hydrogenated oils, Van Dein said. Palm oil also contained less saturated fat.

Switching at each plant had to take place simultaneously. The production lines couldn't handle the mixture of old oils and new ones. “On a certain day, all these tanks had to be cleared of trans-containing components and filled with other components. From a logistical point of view, it was a nightmare,” said Van Dein.

Because Unilever had occasionally used palm oil in the past, the supply chain was already up and running. But it took 6 weeks to deliver raw materials from Malaysia to Europe. Van Dein began to buy more and more palm oil, arranging shipments to various factories on schedule. And then one day in 1995, when trucks lined up outside Unilever factories across Europe, it happened.

This was the moment that changed the processed food industry forever. Unilever was the pioneer. After Van Deijn orchestrated the company's transition to palm oil, virtually every other food company followed suit. In 2001, the American Heart Association released a statement stating that "the optimal diet for reducing the risk of chronic disease is one in which saturated fatty acids are reduced and trans-fatty acids are virtually eliminated from the fat produced." Today, more than two-thirds of palm oil is used for food. Consumption in the EU has more than tripled since the Paddington project until 2015. That same year, the US Food and Drug Administration gave food manufacturers 3 years to eliminate all trans fats from every margarine, cookie, cake, pie, popcorn, frozen pizza, doughnut and cookie sold in the US. Almost all of them have now been replaced by palm oil.

Compared to all the palm oil now consumed in Europe and the US, Asia uses far more: India, China and Indonesia account for nearly 40% of the world's total palm oil consumers. Growth was fastest in India, where the accelerating economy was another factor in palm oil's newfound popularity.

One of the common features of economic development throughout the world and throughout history is that the consumption of fat by the population is growing in step with its income. From 1993 to 2013, India's per capita GDP increased from $298 to $1,452. Over the same period, fat consumption increased by 35% in rural areas and 25% in urban areas, with palm oil a major component of this escalation. Government-subsidized Fair Price Shops, a food distribution network for the poor, began selling imported palm oil in 1978, mainly for cooking. Two years later, 290,000 stores unloaded 273,500 tons. By 1995, Indian palm oil imports had risen to nearly 1 million tons, reaching over 9 million tons by 2015. In those years, the poverty rate fell by half, and the population grew by 36%.

But palm oil is no longer just used for home cooking in India. Today it is a large part of the growing fast food industry in the country. India's fast food market grew by 83% between 2011 and 2016 alone. Domino's Pizza, Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Mcdonald'S and Dunkin' Donuts, all of which use palm oil, now have 2,784 catering establishments in the country. Over the same period, sales of packaged foods increased by 138% because dozens of packaged snacks containing palm oil can be purchased for pennies.

The versatility of palm oil is not limited to food. Unlike other oils, it can be easily and inexpensively separated into oils of various consistencies, making it reusable. “It has a huge advantage because of its versatility,” said Carl Beck-Nielsen, chief executive officer of United Plantations Berhad, a Malaysian palm oil producer.

Soon after the processed food business discovered the magical properties of palm oil, industries such as personal care products and transportation fuel also began using it to replace other oils.

As palm oil has become more widely used around the world, it has also replaced animal products in detergents and personal care products such as soap, shampoo, lotion, etc. Today, 70% of personal care products contain one or more palm oil derivatives.

Just as Van Dein discovered at Unilever that the composition of palm oil was perfect for them, manufacturers looking for alternatives to animal fats have discovered that palm oils contain the same set of fat types as lard. No other alternative can provide the same benefits for such a wide range of products.

Signer believes that the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the early 1990s, when brain disease among cattle spread to some people who ate beef, caused a greater shift in consumption habits. "Public opinion, brand equity and marketing have come together to move away from animal-based products in more fashion-focused industries such as personal care."

In the past, when fat was used in products such as soap, a by-product of the meat industry, animal fat, was used. Now, in response to consumers' desire for ingredients perceived as more "natural", soap, detergent and cosmetic manufacturers have replaced the local by-product with one that must be transported thousands of miles and is causing environmental destruction in the countries where it is produced. Although, of course, the meat industry brings its own environmental harm.

The same thing happened with biofuels – the intention to reduce environmental harm had unintended consequences. In 1997, a European Commission report called for an increase in the share of total energy consumption from renewable sources. Three years later, she mentioned the environmental benefits of biofuels for transport and in 2009 passed the Renewable Energy Directive, which included a 10% target for the share of transport fuels coming from biofuels by 2020.

Unlike food, home and personal care, where palm oil's chemistry makes it an ideal alternative when it comes to biofuels, palm, soybean, canola and sunflower oils work equally well. But palm oil has one big advantage over these competing oils – price.

Currently, oil palm plantations occupy more than 27 million hectares of the earth's surface. Forests and human settlements have been wiped out and replaced with "green wastes" that are virtually devoid of biodiversity in an area the size of New Zealand.

Consequences

The warm, humid climate of the tropics offers ideal growing conditions for oil palms. Day after day, vast swaths of tropical forests in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa are being bulldozed or burned to make way for new plantations, releasing massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. As a result, Indonesia, the world's largest producer of palm oil, overtook the US in greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. Including CO2 and methane emissions, palm oil-based biofuels actually have three times the climate impact of traditional fossil fuels.

As their forest habitat clears up, endangered species such as the orangutan, the Bornean elephant and the Sumatran tiger are moving closer to extinction. Smallholders and indigenous peoples who have inhabited and protected forests for generations are often brutally driven from their lands. In Indonesia, more than 700 land conflicts are related to palm oil production. Human rights violations occur daily, even on supposedly "sustainable" and "organic" plantations.

What can be done?

70,000 orangutans still roam the forests of Southeast Asia, but biofuel policies are pushing them to the brink of extinction. Each new plantation in Borneo destroys another piece of their habitat. Increasing pressure on politicians is imperative if we are to save our tree relatives. Apart from this, however, there is much more that we can do in everyday life.

Enjoy homemade food. Cook your own and use alternative oils like olive or sunflower.

Read labels. Labeling regulations require food manufacturers to clearly state ingredients. However, in the case of non-food products such as cosmetics and cleaning products, a wide range of chemical names can still be used to disguise the use of palm oil. Familiarize yourself with these names and avoid them.

Write to manufacturers. Companies can be very sensitive to issues that give their products a bad reputation, so asking manufacturers and retailers can make a real difference. Public pressure and increased awareness of the issue has already prompted some growers to stop using palm oil.

Leave the car at home. If possible, walk or ride a bike.

Stay informed and inform others. Big business and governments would like us to believe that biofuels are good for the climate and that oil palm plantations are sustainable. Share information with your family and friends.

SO MANY SONGS ABOUT PROPETO OIL…

Research agency "RBC.research"

Over the past 10 years, there has been a steady increase in the production of vegetable oil in the world. The values ​​of average annual growth range from 0.8 to 8.6%, and the average increase in production since 2000 is 4.8%. In 2012, the volume of world production of vegetable oil reached almost 160 million tons, while in 2001 the value of the same indicator was very close to 90 million tons. (rice. 1 ) .
The most popular types of vegetable oil in the world are palm and soybean oils - they account for 34 and 27.7% of world production in volume terms, respectively. (rice. 2 ) .

Rapeseed oil, which is not yet so popular in Russia, confidently ranks third in the world with a share of 15%. Sunflower oil, the most widespread in Russia and Ukraine, occupies only the fourth place in the structure of world production with a share of 8.7%.
Today, more than 40% of all vegetable oil produced in the world is exported. The high value of this indicator is a consequence of the fact that in producing countries there are different weather and climatic conditions for the cultivation of oilseeds. That is, in countries with a favorable climate, for example, in Indonesia, Malaysia and Argentina, the volume of production of vegetable oil is much higher than the level of consumption, so most of the oil produced is exported. (rice. 3 ) .

In contrast, in countries with colder climates, such as Canada or the Nordic countries, oilseed cultivation is difficult, so imports account for a significant share of vegetable oil consumption.
Analyzing the structure of world export supplies by types of vegetable oil, it should be noted that the lion's share - 63.3% - falls on palm oil. In second place with a significant margin is soybean oil with a share of 13.9%. Sunflower oil, the main exporters of which are Russia and Ukraine, is in third place with a share of 8.6%.
On the other hand, the largest consumers of vegetable oil in the world are those countries in which their own production is not able to fully satisfy the demand for vegetable oil from the population and industry. First of all, these countries include India and China with a combined population of more than 2.5 billion people (respectively, 1.21 and 1.34 billion people). India accounts for 16.3% of all global vegetable oil imports and China for 15% (rice. 4 ) .

These countries are closely followed by the European Union with a share of 14.3%, where oil consumption per capita is significantly higher than in China or India. Also, a significant place in the world import of vegetable oil is occupied by such countries as the USA, Malaysia, Pakistan and Egypt - their shares are respectively 6.7, 4.5, 3.6 and 3.5%. In the structure of world imports of vegetable oil, Russia occupies only 1.2%.
Today, structural shifts in the consumption of vegetable oil are clearly visible in the world. Thus, in 2000, almost 90% of vegetable oil produced was used for final consumption in food, and only 10% was used in industrial consumption - in the production of fuel, lubricants, oil paints, in soap making and other industries. (rice. 5 ) .

Already in 2006, the share of vegetable oil used in industrial consumption amounted to almost 20%, and by 2012 it reached 23.4%. Moreover, the most common types of vegetable oil in the industrial industry today are soybean, rapeseed and palm oils.
As for the change in the structure of consumption of vegetable oil for food, it can be noted that over the past decade, the share of palm oil consumption has increased, while the share of soybean oil, in turn, has decreased. (rice. 6 ) .

The share of such types of vegetable oils as sunflower, peanut, cottonseed, coconut and olive in the structure of food consumption has been fairly stable over the past decade.
Returning to the structure of industrial consumption of vegetable oil, we note that in 2000 the most common “industrial” vegetable oil was palm and palm kernel oils, the share of which reached 60%. (rice. 7 ) .

Soybean, rapeseed and sunflower oils were also popular. However, palm oils began to gradually lose their positions - there is no drop in industrial consumption in absolute terms, but no growth either. Thus, the picture of the world structure of industrial consumption of vegetable oil began to shift towards an increase in the use of soybean and rapeseed oils.
In 2012, the structure of industrial consumption by main types of vegetable oils is as follows: palm oil occupies 38.3%, soybean oil accounts for 23.1%, and rapeseed and palm kernel oils account for 19.8 and 11.7%, respectively.
The global volume of production and consumption of the main types of vegetable oils (palm, soybean, rapeseed and sunflower oils) is steadily growing at an average annual rate of 4.8% per year.
The structure of food consumption of the main types of vegetable oil in the world as a whole is changing very slowly. Over the past 10 years, the share of consumption of palm oil has slightly increased, while the share of soybean oil, in turn, has slightly decreased. The leaders in the global food consumption market are four types of vegetable oil - palm, soybean, rapeseed and sunflower - and the shares of the last two in the structure of world consumption have been stable over the past years.
In the structure of world consumption of vegetable oil, there has been a new trend towards an increase in the share of industrial consumption. Moreover, the highest growth in this segment is shown by rapeseed oil, which is used for the production of biodiesel in the EU countries, and soybean oil, which is used for the production of biofuels in the United States.

Sergei Khitrov,
senior analyst,
head of research projects at RBC.research