1 Production and trade of vegetable oils

Frank D. Gunstone

1.1 Extraction, refining and processing

Most vegetable oils are obtained from beans or seeds, which generally furnish
two valuable commodities—an oil and a protein-rich meal. Seed extraction is
achieved by pressing and/or by solvent extraction. Oils such as palm and olive,
on the other hand, are pressed out of the soft fruit (endosperm). Seeds give oils in
different proportions. Using figures for 2000/01, world average oil yields are:
soybean (18.3%); rapeseed (38.6%); sunflower (40.9%); groundnut (40.3%);
cottonseed (15.1%); coconut (62.4%); palmkernel (44.6%); sesame (42.4%);
linseed (33.5%); average for all oilseeds (25.8%). In addition, yields from palm
fruit (45–50%), olive (25–30%) and corn (about 5%) are as indicated.
Some oils, such as virgin olive oil, are used without further treatment but
most are refined in some measure before use. The refining processes remove
undesirable materials (phospholipids, monoacylglycerols, diacylglycerols, free
acids, colour and pigments, oxidised materials, flavour components, trace metals
and sulfur compounds) but may also remove valuable minor components which
are antioxidants and vitamins such as carotenes and tocopherols. These pro-
cesses must therefore be designed to maximise the first and to minimise the
second. Some of the useful minor components can be recovered from side
streams to give valuable products such as phospholipids, free acids, tocopherols,
carotenes, sterols and squalene. Because of the changes that occur, it is always
important to note whether compositional data relate to crude or refined oil.
Details of the levels of these in the various seed oils are given in appropriate
chapters in this volume (see also Gunstone 2000). Extraction and refining
processes have been described by Fils (2000) and by De Greyt and Kellens
(2000) respectively. Hamm (2001) has discussed the major differences in extrac-
tion and refining procedures between Europe and North America as a conse-
quence of the size of the industrial plant and of the differing oilseeds to be
handled.
With only a limited number of oils and fats available on a commercial scale,
it is not surprising that these are sometimes inadequate to meet the physi-
cal, nutritional, and chemical properties required for use in food products.
Over a century or more, lipid technologists have designed and used proce-
dures for overcoming the limitations of a restricted range of natural products.
In particular, they have sought to modify the fatty acid composition of their
lipids, knowing that such changes will influence the physical, nutritional, and
2 VEGETABLE OILS IN FOOD TECHNOLOGY

Table 1.1 Methods of changing fatty acid composition and physical,

nutritional and chemical properties thereby
Technological solutions
Blending
Distillation
Fractionation
Hydrogenation
Interesterification with chemical catalysts
Interesterification with specific lipases
Enzymic enhancement
Biological solutions
Domestication of wild crops
Oils modified by conventional seed breeding
Oils modified by (intra-species) genetic engineering
Lipids from unconventional sources (micro-organisms)

chemical properties. These have been classified (Gunstone 1998 and 2001) into
technological and biological procedures according to the procedures listed in
Table 1.1.
The procedures most relevant to this book are fractionation, hydrogenation,
and modification of fatty acid composition, either by conventional seed breed-
ing or by genetic engineering; examples are detailed in appropriate chapters.
For example, the usefulness of both palm oil and palmkernel oil are greatly
extended by fractionation. Hydrogenation is applied mainly in one of two
ways. A very light hydrogenation is applied, particularly to soybean oil and
rapeseed oil, to reduce the level of linolenic acid in these oils and to extend
shelf life. This is called brush hydrogenation. More extensive, but still partial,
hydrogenation is applied to unsaturated liquid oils to produce semi-solid fats
that can be used in margarines and spreads. As a consequence of this pro-
cess, the levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids are markedly reduced, saturated
acid content rises slightly, and there is a considerable rise in monounsatu-
rated acids, including some with trans configuration. The trans acids have
higher melting points than their cis isomers, thereby contributing to the desired
increase in solid acids. Unfortunately these changes have undesirable nutritional
consequences.
In the following chapters, examples are cited where fatty acid composition
has been modified by biological methods—both traditional and modern. Well-
known examples include low-erucic acid rapeseed oil (canola oil) and high-
oleic sunflower oil, but attempts to develop oils with modified fatty acid are
being actively pursued in many counties—in both academic and industrial
laboratories—and substantial developments are likely in the next five to ten
years. Some of have been described by the author (Gunstone 2001) and others
are cited in the following chapters of this book.
 PRODUCTION AND TRADE OF VEGETABLE OILS 3

1.2 Vegetable oils—production, disappearance and trade

World production of oils and fats—currently about 117 million tonnes per
annum—comes from vegetable and animal sources. Oil World publications*
recognise 17 commodity oils, of which four are of animal origin. The remainder
are from vegetable sources and the following chapters of this book cover all
these except castor oil, which is used solely for industrial purposes. The state-
ments made in this section are supported by the detailed information in the
accompanying Tables.
Of the total production of oils and fats, about 80% is used for food purposes
(which will be described here in appropriate chapters), 6% is used in animal
feed, and the remaining 14% provides the basis of the oleochemical industry
(Gunstone and Hamilton 2001).
Within the sources of vegetable oils it is useful to distinguish three different
types:
• Byproducts. Cotton and corn are grown primarily for fibre and for cereal
respectively and the oil is a byproduct. Soybean can also be included
in this category because it yields two products—oil and meal—which
represent approximately18% and 79% respectively of the dried bean. The
demand for soybeans is driven sometimes by one of these and sometimes
by the other. It could also be argued that peanuts (groundnuts) should also
be included, since only about one half of the crop is crushed (for oil and
meal) and the rest is consumed as nuts.
• Tree crops. Palm, palmkernel, coconut and olive oils are obtained from
trees that have to be planted and mature before they give a useful crop.
Once this stage is reached, the trees continue to provide crops for 25–30
years, in the case of palm, and longer than that for olive. These crops
cannot be changed on a yearly basis.
• Annual crops. The third category are annual crops such as rape, sun-
flower and linseed. Appropriate decisions have to be made annually by
the farmer or planter concerning which crops to grow. The choice is
usually between oilseed crops and cereals, and the decision is based on
agricultural and economic factors.
Another distinction that is sometimes made is between oilseed crops and
those vegetable oils which come from the endosperm (soft fleshy fruit). Palm
and olive belong to this category.
Most of the crops are produced annually at harvest time, which comes late in
the calendar year in the northern hemisphere and early in the calendar year in the

* Oil World, ISTA Mielke GmbH of Hamburg, Germany, produce weekly, monthly, annual, and occasional
issues devoted to the production and use of 12 oilseeds, 17 oils and fats, and 10 oil meals.
4 VEGETABLE OILS IN FOOD TECHNOLOGY

Table 1.2 Production, exports and imports (million tonnes) of 10 oilseeds and of 17 oils and fats in
selected countries in 2000/01
Oilseeds Oils and fats
Population∗ Production Exports Imports Production Exports Imports
World 6133 306.9 64.7 64.7 117.1 37.7 37.7
Malaysia 23 3.4 – 0.7 13.6 11.5 0.4
Argentina 37 29.6 5.9 – 5.3 4.5 –
Canada 31 10.7 6.3 0.8 2.2 1.1 0.4
Australia 19 2.9 1.8 – 0.9 0.5 0.2
US 286 85.1 28.2 0.8 15.7 2.9 1.9
Brazil 173 38.7 12.8 0.6 5.5 1.4 0.3
Indonesia 215 5.1 – 1.5 8.9 5.6 –
China 1263 47.8 0.9 14.4 15.8 0.2 2.9
India 1025 20.8 0.2 – 6.7 0.2 5.9
EU-15 377 14.6 0.7 20.5 15.2 2.6 5.2
∗ Millions.

southern hemisphere. However, some equatorial crops like palm and coconut
are harvested through all the twelve months of the year, though there is some
minor seasonal variation in quantity.
In discussing the trade in oilseed, oils and fats, and oil meals in geographical
terms it is useful to divide countries/regions into four categories. These are
discussed below and illustrated in Table 1.2.

• Countries with small populations that produce large amounts of oilseeds/

oils and fats are the world’s largest exporters of these commodities and
dominate world trade. Examples include Malaysia, Argentina, Canada
and Australia.
• Countries with large populations that produce large amounts of oilseeds/
oils and fats. These countries need to feed their own large populations
but are still significant exporters. Examples are the US, Brazil and
Indonesia.
• Countries with very large populations which, despite local production,
are still major importers. China and India and other highly populated
counties in Asia belong to this category.
• Finally there are countries/regions which are essentially traders. They
produce, consume, import, and export these commodities. EU-15 is the
biggest example but Hong Kong (as was) and Singapore, by virtue of
their geographical closeness to the world’s largest importer (China) and
exporter (Malaysia), are also significant traders.

Table 1.3 shows the annual average production of 17 oils and fats for selected
five-year periods from 1976/80 with forecasts up to 2016/20 taken from a revised
Oil World publication in 2002. That is a period of forty years. There has been a
 PRODUCTION AND TRADE OF VEGETABLE OILS 5

Table 1.3 Annual average production of 17 oils and fats in selected five-year periods from 1976/80 with
forecasts up to 2016/20
1976/80 1986/90 1996/00 2006/10 2016/20
World total 52.65 75.66 105.06 165.65 184.77
Soybean oil 11.23 15.28 23.14 33.60 41.12
Cottonseed oil 2.83 3.64 4.00 5.35 6.51
Groundnut oil 3.01 3.70 4.55 5.72 6.38
Sunflowerseed oil 4.21 7.25 9.11 12.43 16.97
Rapeseed oil 3.01 7.51 12.64 17.72 22.69
Sesameseed oil 0.51 0.64 0.70 0.86 0.96
Corn oil 0.83 1.35 1.91 2.49 3.16
Olive oil 1.68 1.80 2.47 2.75 2.98
Palm oil 3.69 9.22 18.72 31.43 43.36
Palmkernel oil 0.46 1.21 2.34 3.84 5.28
Coconut oil 2.85 3.07 3.01 3.70 4.55
Butter 5.60 6.35 5.81 6.93 7.99
Lard 4.25 5.17 6.38 7.93 9.14
Fish oil 1.13 1.53 1.25 1.18 11.59
Linseed oil 0.79 0.73 0.70 0.81 0.97
Castorseed oil 0.32 0.40 0.46 0.71 0.78
Tallow 6.24 6.79 7.85 10.06 10.76

Source: Mielke 2002. The order of citation in the above Table is that used in the reference publication.
This book does not include the four animal fats nor castor oil. The reference publication does not provide
figures for cocoa butter but this has an annual production of about 1.7 million tonnes.

considerable increase in oil and fat production during that time from 53 million
tonnes in 1976/80 to 105 million tonnes in 1996/2000 with 185 million tonnes
expected in 20 years’ time.
The production levels of virtually all the commodities have increased during
the past 20 years and further increases are expected in the coming years. However
they have not all increased equally; some have lost market share and four
have become increasingly dominant. The latter are soybean oil, palm oil (and
palmkernel oil), rapeseed oil, and sunflowerseed oil. The percentage share
of world production of these oils is summarised in Table 1.4. Palm oil and
palmkernel oil are combined in this Table. Although palmkernel oil is a minor
oil, it is produced from the same source as palm oil and it is therefore appropriate
to combine these for this discussion. In the past 20 years both palm oil and
rapeseed oil have increased considerably to take up positions two and three in
order of production level. It is considered that palm oil production will exceed
that of soybean oil towards the end of the forty-year period.
Typical among oils which have lost market share over the past twenty years
are cottonseed oil, which has fallen from 5.4 to 3.8%, groundnut oil (from 5.7
to 4.3%), and olive oil (from 3.2 to 2.3%), despite the increases in production
shown in Table 1.3.