The top palm oil producers in the world are Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Indonesia grew about 57 percent of the world’s palm oil in 2025/26, and Malaysia about 25 percent. Together, those two countries produced over four-fifths of global supply that year.
My forefathers in Ntigha traded red palm oil with British merchants, when Nigeria still led the world in palm oil. Today Nigeria ranks fifth and imports oil to meet its own demand.
This page ranks the top palm oil-producing countries using the latest official figures, with the year and source for every number.
It covers each leading country’s output, main growing regions, and recent trends.
It also discusses how Nigeria lost its lead, how production splits by region, and what is changing in the years ahead.
Where I draw on my family’s history in Ntigha, I say so plainly.
Nigeria may rank fifth, but its village plantations still give some of the world’s richest red oil. The shop page sells red oil from Africa’s oldest plantation, shipped across Nigeria.
Table of Contents
What Does Top Palm Oil Producer Mean?
A top palm oil producer is a country that grows and mills the largest volume of crude palm oil each year.
Rankings count oil pressed from the fruit flesh, measured in metric tonnes, not palm kernel oil from the seeds. The US Department of Agriculture reports output by marketing year, such as 2025/26, while the FAO reports by calendar year.
Both sources rank the same countries at the top, though their figures differ slightly.
Production differs from exports, since some large producers, such as Nigeria, use all their oil at home and still import more.
Palm Oil Production by Country
The USDA’s October 2026 Oilseeds report gives these figures for the five largest producers it lists separately.
| Rank | Country | 2025/26 output, million tonnes | Share of world, 2025/26 | 2026/27 forecast, million tonnes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indonesia | 46.7 | 57.3 percent | 45.0 |
| 2 | Malaysia | 20.2 | 24.8 percent | 19.6 |
| 3 | Thailand | 3.9 | 4.8 percent | 3.72 |
| 4 | Colombia | 2.0 | 2.5 percent | 2.0 |
| 5 | Nigeria | 1.5 | 1.8 percent | 1.5 |
| World | 81.4 | 100 percent | 78.9 |
Shares here are calculated from the USDA world total of 81.4 million tonnes. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand together produced about 87 percent of the world’s palm oil in 2025/26.
The USDA report does not list smaller producing countries separately in its table. FAO figures for 2023, as compiled by World Population Review, rank the next ten.
| Rank | Country | 2023 output, thousand tonnes |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Guatemala | 934 |
| 7 | Papua New Guinea | 770 |
| 8 | Honduras | 655 |
| 9 | Brazil | 637 |
| 10 | Côte d’Ivoire | 563 |
| 11 | Ecuador | 495 |
| 12 | Mexico | 387 |
| 13 | Cameroon | 320 |
| 14 | DR Congo | 300 |
| 15 | Ghana | 300 |
These figures come from a different source and year, so they are not directly comparable with the USDA table.
The Top 10 Producers, Country by Country
Indonesia
Indonesia is by far the world’s largest producer, with 46.7 million tonnes in 2025/26. Most of its plantations lie on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo.
Palm Oil Magazine, reporting USDA projections, put Indonesia’s harvested area at about 14.4 million hectares. It put average yield at about 3.26 tonnes of oil per hectare.
Malaysia
Malaysia ranks second in the world, with 20.2 million tonnes in 2025/26. Its palms grow in Peninsular Malaysia and in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak.
Malaysia built its industry on oil palms first brought from West Africa during the colonial era. It now hosts the secretariat of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil in Kuala Lumpur.
Thailand
Thailand ranks third in the world, with 3.9 million tonnes in 2025/26. Most Thai palms grow in the south of the country, close to the Malaysian border.
Thailand uses much of its palm oil at home, for cooking oil and biodiesel. USDA figures show its output rising from 3.27 million tonnes in 2023/24.
Colombia
Colombia is the largest producer in the Americas, with about 2 million tonnes in 2025/26. Its plantations spread across several regions, from the northern Caribbean plains to the eastern lowlands.
Nigeria
Nigeria ranks fifth in the world, with about 1.5 million tonnes, and leads Africa. Much of its oil comes from smallholders and wild groves rather than large estates, as told in full below.
Guatemala
Guatemala ranked sixth in the world in 2023, with about 934,000 tonnes. It has become one of Central America’s fastest-growing producers, mostly for export.
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea ranked seventh in the world in 2023, with about 770,000 tonnes. Most of the palm oil it produces is exported.
Honduras
Honduras ranked eighth in the world in 2023, with about 655,000 tonnes of oil. Its palms grow mainly in the humid lowlands near its Caribbean coast.
Brazil
Brazil ranked ninth in the world in 2023, with about 637,000 tonnes of oil. Most Brazilian palm oil comes from the state of Pará in the Amazon region, and Bahia keeps a long tradition of dendê oil.
Côte d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire ranked tenth in 2023, with about 563,000 tonnes, second only to Nigeria in Africa. Nigeria now imports some of the palm oil it needs from Côte d’Ivoire.
How Nigeria Lost Its Lead
Nigeria was once the world’s palm oil giant, long before Indonesia or Malaysia. A 2020 paper in the Asian People Journal by Shehu and Salleh says Nigeria was the largest producer and exporter in the 1960s.
The authors put Nigeria’s share at 43 percent of global production in that decade. They add that palm oil was Nigeria’s main foreign exchange earner until the 1960s.
The authors give three main reasons for the long decline that followed.
| Cause | What happened, according to the paper |
|---|---|
| The oil boom | Petroleum revenue in the 1970s led the government to treat agriculture as unimportant |
| The civil war | The 1967 to 1970 war disrupted farming in the eastern palm belt |
| Old trees and methods | Many trees were over 30 years old, and manual processing extracted less oil |
The same paper claims Nigeria supplied oil palm seedlings to Malaysia, which went on to overtake it. The paper gives no date or source for that claim, so treat it as widely repeated rather than proven.
Nigeria Now Imports Palm Oil
Nigeria no longer grows enough palm oil to feed its own people. In 2024, the president of the National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria said demand stood near 3 million tonnes.
He put domestic production below 1.4 million tonnes, leaving a deficit of over 1.6 million tonnes that imports must fill.
UkrAgroConsult, citing Sahara Reporters, reported in September 2026 that Nigeria imported about ₦68 billion of palm oil in the second quarter of 2026. Most of that oil came from Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire and neighboring Ghana.
A Family View From Abia State, Nigeria
My forefathers carried red oil from Ngwa land to the shores around Opobo, where it was sold and loaded onto ships. I do not know exactly what they received, but it was something valuable at the time.
Opobo was a major palm oil port in that era, trading with British ships. Encyclopedia.com records that King Jaja founded Opobo in 1870 and shipped palm oil directly to Europe until the British deported him in 1887.
Elders in my family say crude oil changed palm oil’s place in Nigeria. People never stopped using red oil, but their attention for making money shifted to petroleum, and the government looked away.
They see the civil war as only an indirect cause of the decline. In the 1980s, many families planted improved agric palms again, and my father bought many seedlings for the family lands then.
We still harvest those palms today, beside wild groves my family inherited, never cleared from the forest.
Most Nigerian red oil still comes from groves like ours, harvested by climbers and processed by hand or in small mills.
I have never seen imported red oil in Abia, because we grow enough and I do not buy oil.
Hearing in the news that Nigeria now imports palm oil is a huge shame to my people. How crude palm oil from local mills is traded is covered in crude oil from mill to market.
Production by Region
| Region | Main producers | Share or scale |
|---|---|---|
| Southeast Asia | Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea | Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand alone made about 87 percent of world output in 2025/26 |
| Latin America | Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico | Colombia leads with about 2 million tonnes |
| West and Central Africa | Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, DR Congo, Ghana | Nigeria leads with about 1.5 million tonnes |
West and Central Africa is the oil palm’s native home, yet it now grows only a small share of world output. The tree’s origins and spread are traced in the oil palm’s African homeland.
Producers Are Not Always Exporters
The biggest producers are also the biggest exporters, but the match is not exact. Indonesia burns a growing share of its oil as biodiesel, while Nigeria consumes all its output and imports more.
Exports, imports, consumers and prices are covered in palm oil’s global trade.
What Is Changing for Top Producers
Several forces will decide how the ranking moves over the next few years.
- Lower output forecast. The USDA forecasts world output falling to about 78.9 million tonnes in 2026/27, with Indonesia down to 45 million tonnes.
- Biodiesel in Indonesia. Fastmarkets reported that Indonesia scaled back its planned B50 biodiesel blend to B45 for 2026, diverting more oil from exports.
- Land seizures in Indonesia. The same report said government land seizures put between 2 and 5 million tonnes of Indonesian output at risk.
- Ageing trees in Malaysia. Fastmarkets also cited ageing trees, slow replanting and dependence on foreign harvest labor as limits on Malaysian output.
- Climate pressure. Drought, heat and shifting rainfall threaten yields in every producing region, as covered in the rain and heat palms need.
- Sustainability rules. Buyers and laws in Europe increasingly demand traceable, deforestation-free oil, as set out in what RSPO certification requires.
Conclusion
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand lead the world, producing about 87 percent of its palm oil in 2025/26.
Colombia and Nigeria complete the top five, though each grows only about 2 percent of world supply.
Nigeria once led the world, with a reported 43 percent share in the 1960s, before the oil boom and civil war.
Today it imports oil from its West African neighbors to meet demand.
Watch for Indonesia’s biodiesel policy, Malaysia’s ageing trees and climate pressure, since together they will decide the next ranking.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which country produces the most palm oil?
Indonesia produces the most palm oil, about 46.7 million tonnes in 2025/26 according to the USDA. That equals roughly 57 percent of all the palm oil grown worldwide.
What are the top 5 palm oil producing countries?
The top five are Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia and Nigeria, according to USDA figures. Indonesia and Malaysia together produced about 82 percent of all world output in 2025/26.
Which African country produces the most palm oil?
Nigeria produces the most palm oil in Africa, about 1.5 million tonnes a year. Côte d’Ivoire ranks second in Africa, followed by Cameroon, the DR Congo and Ghana.
Was Nigeria ever the largest palm oil producer?
A 2020 paper says Nigeria led world production in the 1960s, with 43 percent of output. The oil boom and later government neglect helped drive its long decline.
Chimeremeze Emeh is a tropical crop farmer and chemical engineer from Ntigha, Isiala Ngwa North LGA, Abia State, Eastern Nigeria, specializing in palm oil and cassava, with over 30 years of hands-on experience growing, harvesting, and processing red palm oil. He runs community engagement workshops for rural farmers in Ntigha focused on palm tree care, and operates Palm Oil Pathway as a registered agribusiness and sells red palm oil in 1L, 2L, 3L, and 25L packaging. Built around red palm oil production. He is also the founder of Cassava Pathway, a CAMA-registered agribusiness founded in 2024, where he applies the same tropical farming expertise to cassava flour and starch production.