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Table 2 Principal fatty acid compositions of the nine major globally traded vegetable oils

From: Oil palm in the 2020s and beyond: challenges and solutions

Crop

% global supply

Principal fatty acids

12:0

Lauric

14:0

Myristic

16:0

Palmitic

18:0

Stearic

18:1 Oleic

18:2

Linoleic

18:3

α-Linolenic

Oil palm (mesocarp)

35.5

 

1

43

4

40

10

0.3

Oil palm (kernel)

4.3

48

16

8

2

15

2.5

 

Soybean

27.8

  

11

4

23

54

8

Rapeseed

13.4

  

4

2

60

20

10

Sunflower

10.4

  

7

5

19

68

 

Peanut

3.0

  

12

5

48

30

 

Cottonseed

2.5

 

1

24

2

18

54

0.5

Coconut

1.8

49

17

9

2

6

2

 

Olive

1.5

  

13

2

70

13

0.6

  1. Saturated fatty acids are in blue, monounsaturates in red and polyunsaturates in black. In each case, data reflect average vales from the main commodity varieties and do not reflect specialist niche varieties such as high-erucic rapeseed or high-oleic soybean oils. In 2019–20, the total production of these nine vegetable oils was about 204 Mt. Data from refs 14, 167