How and why palm oil became the world leader in vegetable oils trade

Palm oil in the modern world is the undisputed leader among other vegetable oils in terms of production and trade. The volume of use of palm oil not only in the food industry, but in the production of motor fuel is growing every year. As the Russian economy recovers at the beginning of the 21st century, the import of palm oil to our country has noticeably increased. Now in Russia it is the second most popular vegetable oil (after sunflower oil) in terms of per capita consumption. To prevent further growth in imports of palm oil to Russia and reduce the volume of its consumption in the country, the VAT rate for palm oil is to be raised to 20%. Recently, palm oil has taken the first place in popularity in the world vegetable oil market by a wide margin. From the mid-1960s to 1978, palm oil and soybean oil alternately shared the leadership in the global vegetable oil trade. From 1978 to the present day, palm oil has confidently held the first position in the world in terms of trade. ...