Update On Food and Nonfood Uses of Oils and Fats: Inform

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Update on food and nonfood

uses of oils and fats
Oils and fats are consumed primarily as human food, with smaller
amounts being used as animal feed
and by the oleochemical industry.
On the basis of figures published in
the 1980s by Henkel (now Cognis
GmbH headquartered at Dsseldorf, Germany) these ratios were
considered to be 80:6:14. Recently
I suggested that these ratios would
change to 68:26:6 by 2020. These
figures apply to the common range
of vegetable and animal fats. One
major analyst provides information
on 17 commodity oils, 4 of animal
origin and 13 of vegetable origin.
With growing demand on oils and
fats supplies for food, consequent
on growing population and increasing income in the developing world,
and now for biodiesel, there is concern as to whether production can
meet this burgeoning demand.
Here I try to assess the changing demand for nonfood consumption on the
basis of information provided by the reports on vegetable oils published monthly
by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) and using the figures for May
2007. It will become apparent that though
useful information can be gleaned from
these figures the picture is incomplete and
the author welcomes any further information that readers can give him.
USDA information (Table 1 for current production levels) is confined to nine
Courtesy Cognis
Frank Gunstone
vegetable oils (coconut, cottonseed, olive,

palm, palmkernel, peanut [groundnut],
rapeseed [canola], soybean, and sunflower). The proportion of these nine seed
oils used for food and nonfood purposes
varies with commodity. This short list excludes minor oils such as corn, sesame, linseed, and castor, some of which are used
predominantly or wholly for industrial purposes; and it does not include the animal
fats such as tallow, which is the basis of
several surface-active materials.
We also know that the two lauric oils
(coconut and palmkernel) are used extensively for the production of surface-active
compounds by virtue of the value of C12
and C14 chains in this respect, and at the
other extreme it seems unlikely that highly
rated olive oil is used for significant nonfood purposes. But can we find useful figures in the USDA reports to quantify these
generalizations? As I write we are getting
near to the end of the 2006/07 harvest year
so that the figures now available for that
period will be fairly reliable and what follows are based on such figures.
Traditionally, the oleochemical industry was strong in the United States, West-
TABLE 1. Production (million metric

tons) of nine major vegetable oils in
2006/07
Oil
Coconut
Cottonseed
Olive
Palm
Palmkernel
Peanut
Rapeseed
Soybean
Sunflower
Total
Production
3.3
4.7
3.0
37.7
4.6
5.0
18.2
35.8
10.7
123.0
ern Europe, and Japan, but in the last 10

years or so production of oleochemicals
has grown rapidly in Southeast Asia and
particularly in Malaysia. This change is related to the production in that region of
basic oleochemicals derived from native
supplies of coconut, palmkernel, and palm
oils. For example, in 2005 Malaysia exported 1.8 million tonnes (MMT) of oleochemical products, which were mainly
574
August 2007, Vol. 18 (8)
TABLE 2. Consumption for food and nonfood (N-F) purposes (million metric tons) in 1993/94, 1999/00, and 2006/07
93/94
99/00
06/07
Total
9 Seed oils
Food
N-F
Total
Rapeseed
Food
N-F
Total
Palm
Food
N-F
Total
Other
Food
N-F
61.5
82.7
121.9
55.0
74.7
99.2
6.5
8.0
22.7
9.1
13.7
18.2
8.4
13.0
13.3
0.7
0.7
4.9
13.5
20.5
37.6
10.9
17.4
27.6
2.6
3.1
10.0
38.9
48.5
66.1
35.7
44.3
58.3
3.2
4.2
7.8
fatty acids, fatty alcohols, methyl esters,

glycerine, and soap noodles (Malaysian
Oil Palm Statistics 2005, published by the
Malaysian Palm Oil Board in 2006). These
substantial figures take no account of further Malaysian and Indonesian plans to export substantial amounts of oil and locally
produced esters for direct burning in electricity stations or for biodiesel.
USDA reports provide information for
the 14 years between 1993/94 and 2006/07.
Data for the beginning, middle, and end of
this period are selected for Table 2. They
are given for the nine seed oils together and
separately for rapeseed, palm, and other
oils (calculated by difference). For nonfood purposes, however, the most important will be soybean oil and the two lauric
oils. The nonfood figures include oils used
for animal feed (but excluding whole oil
seeds fed directly to animals), for traditional oleochemical production (the most significant component, growing steadily but
not dramatically), and the rapidly expanding demands for biodiesel and for direct incineration to produce electricity. It is these
last uses that are disturbing the situation
that has existed for many years.
There appears to be little change in
nonfood consumption in the first 7 yr (6.5
and 8.0 MMT). These levels represent 10.6
and 9.7% of the production of the nine
major vegetable oils. However, in the second 7-yr period there was a marked rise
from 8.0 to 22.7 MMT corresponding to
9.7 and 18.6% of total production. For this
restricted group of vegetable oils food consumption, which was around 90%, has fallen to 81%. The increased nonfood use of
14.7 MMT in the last 7 yr is divided between rapeseed oil (up 4.2 MMT), palm
oil (up 6.9 MMT), and other (up 3.6
MMT)probably consisting mainly of
soybean oil and the two lauric oils. My best
estimate of the 7.8 MMT of nonfood use
for other oils is that one half comes from
coconut and palmkernel oils for the oleochemical industry and that the other half
comes from soybean oil. Information from
SoyStats suggests that 1.1 MMT of soybean oil is used for industrial purposes in
the United States representing 12% of the
countrys domestic consumption of that oil.
This figure includes the production of 225
million gallons of biodiesel (equivalent to
~0.75 MMT) made in the United States
from soybean oil. The USDA figures further indicate nonfood use of soybean oil of
1.5 MMT in EU-27 and 0.3 MMT in
Southeast Asia and the Middle East. There
is no information for other parts of the
world including, for example, South America, China, Japan, India, and the former Soviet Union (Table 3).
TABLE 3. Food and nonfood consumption (million metric tons) of the major vegetable oils in 2006/07 by country/regiona
Total
consumption
SE Asia
Middle East
EU-27
China
India
USA
Other
Total
14.5
5.0
21.6
23.0
12.5
11.7
33.6
121.9
Food
Total
7.7
4.3
13.3
20.5
11.9
?
?
99.2
6.4
0.6
7.9
(2.5)
(0.6)
?
?
(22.7)
Non-food (or industrial)

Palm Rape
Soya Other
3.9
0.3
1.1
2.2
0.2
4.8
10.0
4.9
0.1
0.2
1.5
2.4
0.1
0.5
0.3
0.4
The contribution of biodiesel to these

figures, as yet produced mainly from rapeseed oil, is apparent in Europe but is not yet
significant for other regions. However, biodiesel production is increasing in many
parts of the world and will have a greater
effect on these figures in the future.
Biodiesel production in 2006 was estimated to be around 5 MMT and is forecast at
4050 MMT in 2020, though not all will be
produced from this restricted list of vegetable oils.
CONCLUSION
The nonfood use of oils and fats has grown
from 8 to 23 MMT in the last 7 yr and is expected to increase mainly as a consequence
of demand for biodiesel. The vegetable oils
most used for nonfood purposes (excluding linseed and castor oils, which are not
detailed in the USDA figures) are palm (10
MMT), rape (5 MMT), soybean (~4
MMT), and the two lauric oils (~4 MMT).
Nonfood use of rapeseed oil is virtually
confined to Europe. The use of the other
vegetable oils is more widely distributed.
Other vegetable oils probably make very
little contribution to nonfood consumption, but there will also be a significant
contribution from tallow and other animal
fats. On the basis of these figures the nonfood use of the lauric oils (45%), rapeseed
oil (27%), palm oil (27%), and soybean oil
(11%) is at the levels indicated in parentheses for each of these oils. Overall for these
nine major seed oils nonfood consumption
is 18%. On a geographical basis this figure
is 44% in Southeast Asia, 12% in the Middle East, 37% in EU-27, 11% in China, and
5% in India. Unfortunately the figures provided do not allow a calculation for the
United States beyond the 12% of total use
of soybean oil to which must be added (at
least) a major share of lauric oil consumption. None of these figures include the nonfood use of animal fats.
a Nonfood figures are taken from U.S. Department of Agriculture figures except for those in parentheses,
which represent the difference between total consumption and that used for food. Middle East includes
Bahrain, Gaza Strip, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria,Turkey, United Arab Emirates,West Banks, and Yemen. SE Asia includes Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore,Thailand, and Vietnam.
Frank Gunstone is available via e-mail at

fdg1@st-and.ac.uk

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inform

Update on food and nonfood

vegetable oils (coconut, cottonseed, olive,

TABLE 1. Production (million metric

ern Europe, and Japan, but in the last 10

August 2007, Vol. 18 (8)

fatty acids, fatty alcohols, methyl esters,

Non-food (or industrial)

The contribution of biodiesel to these

Frank Gunstone is available via e-mail at

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