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How has global crop production evolved in the last 20 years?

FAO's annual data compilation offers insights into the current global trends in primary crops.

The global production of primary crops increased by 54% between 2000 and 2021, to 9.5 billion tonnes, which is 2% higher than in 2020. This represents 3.3 billion tonnes more than in 2000. With slightly less than one-third of the total, cereals were the main group of crops produced in 2021, followed by sugar crops (22%), vegetables and oil crops (12% each).

Four individual crops accounted for half the global production of primary crops in 2021: sugar cane (20% of the total, with 1.9 billion tonnes), maize (13% with 1.2 billion tonnes), wheat and rice (8% each, with 0.8 billion tonnes). Oil palm fruit and potatoes each accounted for an additional 4% of world crop production.

World production of primary crops by commodity group. Source: FAO. 2022. Production: Crops and livestock products. In: FAOSTAT. Rome. [Cited November 2023]. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QCL — World production of primary crops by commodity group. Source: FAO. 2022. Production: Crops and livestock products. In: FAOSTAT. Rome. [Cited November 2023]. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QCL

In 2021, the United States of America grew 32% of the global production for maize, China produced about 25% of the world output of rice and potatoes, and 18% of the world output of wheat, while 62% of oil palm fruit production originated in Indonesia.

The global production of vegetable oils went up 125% between 2000 and 2020, to 208 million tonnes in 2020. This is 115 million tonnes more than in 2000, but 4 million tonnes less than in 2019. The other main vegetable oils produced in 2020 are rapeseed oil, accounting for 12% of global vegetable oil production (down from 15% in 2000), and sunflower oil, which accounted for 10% of total vegetable oil production (down from 11% in 2000).

Eighty-five percent of the global production of palm oil came from two countries in 2020: Indonesia (60%) and Malaysia (25%). China was the main producer of soybean oil, with a share of 27% in 2020 and the United States of America a distant second with a share of 19%. Canada led the production of rapeseed oil in 2020, with 17% of the world total, just ahead of Germany (16%), while Ukraine produced 29% of the global sunflower oil output in 2020, with the Russian Federation a close second (27%).

November 30, 2023/ FAO. 2023. World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2023. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc8166en