Palm oil is an edible oil extracted from the palm fruit of oil palm tree. This is a tropical woody plant oil. At present, it is the largest vegetable oil variety in the world in terms of production, consumption and international trade. It, together with soybean oil and rapeseed oil, is called "the three largest vegetable oils in the world" and has a history of more than 5,000 years.
Palm oil originated from the west coast of Africa. Later, in the 1970s, palm trees were planted in many countries in Southeast Asia. Palm oil is rich in saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, as well as natural vitamin E and triene tocopherol, carotenoids, linoleic acid and so on.
Palm oil is squeezed from the palm fruit of the oil palm tree. Palm oil and palm kernel oil are extracted from pulp and kernel respectively. Traditionally, palm oil contains only the former. Palm oil can be refined and separated to obtain products with different melting points, which are widely used in catering industry, food industry and oil industry respectively. About half of all packaged goods sold in supermarkets use palm oil, from processed food to cosmetics, soaps and detergents.
As the main palm oil producing areas, Southeast Asia and Africa account for about 88% of the total palm oil production in the world. Indonesia, Malaysia and Nigeria are the top three producers in the world. At present, China has become the largest importer of palm oil in the world, and the annual consumption of palm oil is about 6 million tons, accounting for 20% of the total market.