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What percentage of total world production of palm oil is used for fuel, and what is used for food and cosmetics?
I am asking this because there seems to be more awareness in the media of palm oil use for food and cosmetics than for fuel. I suspect biggest use is for fuel?
Take a look at this report: "Palm oil-based biofuels and sustainability in southeast Asia: A review of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand". It's behind the ScienceDirect paywall so you may not have full access.
They give two tables, one for palm oil production, and one for biodiesel production, for the three largest producers of palm oil in the world. Total world production was 52.1 million tons in 2012, and Indonesia and Malaysia accounted for 85% of this (originally sourced from palmoilresearch[dot]org, however that link now goes to a spam site).
I combined the two tables to look at share of biodiesel produced as a percentage of palm oil production:
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Indonesia
Total oil 15,560 16,600 18,000 20,500 21,000 23,600 25,400 kilotons
Biodiesel 0 21 31 98 311 405 578 kilotons
Share 0.0% 0.1% 0.2% 0.5% 1.5% 1.7% 2.3%
Malaysia
Total oil 15,485 15,290 17,567 17,259 17,763 18,211 18,300 kilotons
Biodiesel 0 55 130 230 227 95 200 kilotons
Share 0.0% 0.4% 0.7% 1.3% 1.3% 0.5% 1.1%
Thailand
Total oil 784 1,170 1,050 1,540 1,345 1,288 1,546 kilotons
Biodiesel 0 0 60 385 482 516 538 kilotons
Share 0.0% 0.0% 5.7% 25.0% 35.8% 40.1% 34.8%
COMBINED
Total oil 31,829 33,060 36,617 39,299 40,108 43,099 45,246 kilotons
Biodiesel 0 76 221 713 1,020 1,016 1,316 kilotons
Share 0.0% 0.2% 0.6% 1.8% 2.5% 2.4% 2.9%
As you can see, from 84% of the world's palm oil, only 2.9% is used for biodiesel production.
Of course, it's possible (but not likely) that someone is buying raw palm oil and converting it to biodiesel on their own, but I don't think the economics of this would favor anyone.
A follow-up question - why did you suspect that fuel would be the biggest end-use? Or are you thinking of other types of fuel than biodiesel? Perhaps cooking fuel, or lighting (candles)?
