Vegetable oil market trends in South Africa

The cultivation of oilseeds in South Africa is well developed, and therefore consumer demand for vegetable oils and meals is satisfied mainly through domestic production. The only exception is palm oil - it is not produced in the country. According to USDA data, the country produces more than 700 thousand tons of vegetable oils (mainly soybean and sunflower oils). The basis of vegetable oil consumption in the country is palm (36.9%), sunflower (32.9%), soybean (22.1%) and rapeseed (4.7%) oil. Unlike other types of oils, palm oil is not produced in South Africa and is imported from Malaysia and Indonesia. In 2022, South Africa imported 786.9 thousand tons of vegetable oils worth $1.1 billion. The volume of imports of this category of products increased relative to 2021 by 12.3% (+86.3 thousand tons) in volume terms and by 37.0% (+302.3 million US dollars) in value terms. In the structure of South African vegetable oil imports, the largest share was occupied by palm oil, which ...