Globally, around 314 million hectares are planted with oil crops. The following figure provides an impression of the area shares of individual crops.

Oil Crop Cultivation_EN by Anne Rödl, translated by HOOU (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The total vegetable oil production in 2018 was around 203 million tonnes. About 87% were produced from the main crops mentioned above. The remaining amount of vegetable oil comes from crops such as olives, peanuts, cottonseed, sesame seeds, linseed, kapok fruit, jojoba seed, and several others.

Since the crops displayed in the figure above have different oil yields per hectare, their shares in total oil production differ (see the following figure). Most vegetable oil in 2018 was produced from oil palm fruits and kernels. Due to their high productivity, oil palms occupy only 7% of the total oil crop area.

 

Vegetable Oil Production_EN byAnne Rödl (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Over the past 20 years, global oil crop production (FAO 2020) and vegetable oil demand have grown continuously (Mielke 2018).

Production_of_major_oilcrops_in_million_tonnes_DE von Anne Rödl (CC BY-SA 4.0)



Vegetable Oil Production in Million Tonnes_EN von Anne Rödl, translated by HOOU (CC BY-SA 4.0)