Strengthening Indonesia China Palm Oil Trade with Sustainable Practices 2025
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Global Palm oil imports FIGURE 4
2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24
India China EU India percentage1,000 metric tons %
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,0000.25
0 00.050.10.150.2
China percentage EU percentageChina’s role in the future of
sustainable palm oil
Building on the strong supply-side leadership of
Indonesia and Malaysia, the import trends shown
in Figure 4 underscore the strategic importance of
key consuming markets – particularly India, China
and the European Union (EU) – in shaping global
palm oil demand. Over the past decade, India has
consistently been the largest importer, with annual
imports fluctuating around 8-10 MMT. However, China’s role has steadily expanded. In
2018-19, China’s palm oil imports reached the level
of the EU’s and have surpassed it since 2020-2021
(except in 2021-2022) – overtaking the EU and
closely tracking India, both in volume and as a
share of global imports.
Meanwhile, EU imports and their global share
have declined, especially after 2018-19, possibly
influenced by stronger regulatory pressures and
sustainability criteria.
Strengthening Indonesia-China Palm Oil Trade with Sustainable Practices
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