World production of oils and fats
Fatty substances

The production of edible oils and fats has been increasing more rapidly than world population for quite some time. One of the reasons is that an increase in per capita income also leads to an increase in the per capita consumption of oils and fats. Another reason is that edible oils and fats are also used as a renewable raw material in non-food applications such as oleochemicals and more recently, biodiesel.

The table  1 illustrates this growth. According to the table  1 , total world production has thus increased from some 110 million tonnes in 2000 to an estimated 190 million tonnes in 2012. This corresponds to a compound annual growth of 4.7%.