africa product development

Palm oil facts

• Palm oil is today the most produced vegetable oil in the world
• Oil palm produces more than 34% of the world's eight major vegetable oils on less than 5% of the total area under oils crops
• It requires the lowest fertilizer inputs per planted hectare
• Between 1995 and 2010 palm oil production is more than tripled and in the same period world demand for palm oil increased sharply
• Palm oil has been constantly more price competitive than soybean oil, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil
• In the past 15 years global palm oil production grew at a much faster rate (+209%) than the expansion of mature oil palm area (+167%)
• Fluctuations in palm oil production have virtually nothing to do with demand but are due to the yield cycle and extreme changes in rainfall 

• The most suitable areas for cultivation are around ten degrees off the equator
• Ghana and Nigeria accounted for most of the production growth in Western Africa
• The main consumers are India and China
• The Port of Rotterdam is the leading trade hub for palm oil