Fats and Oils as Renewable Feedstock for the Chemical Industry

The 11th Workshop on Fats and Oils as Renewable Feedstock for the Chemical Industry was scheduled for March 2021. However, COVID-19 appeared, and the pandemic developed and soon had Europe and most parts of the world under control. Therefore, in November 2020, we decided to defer the Workshop by 1 year to March 2022. We thought that after 1 year, we could forget all problems with COVID-19. That was an error. In January 2022, we discussed the alternative of a real versus a virtual conference. After consultations with the invited speakers, we decided to favor an actual face-to-face workshop and another postponement in the summer because of the pandemic. And then Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, setting in motion a devastating European ground war. Nonetheless, the 11th Workshop eventually took place in Dortmund, Germany, from May 30 to June 01, 2022, organized by abiosus e.V. in cooperation with the Agency of Renewable Resources (FNR), Germany, and with financial support from the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.[1] Some important contributions to the Workshop are compiled in this Special issue. COVID-19 had a tremendous impact on the global production and consumption of fats and oils. Overall, vegetable oil production was projected in 2020 in the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook to increase globally by about 1.4% p.a., mainly driven by food demand in developing countries as a result of population and income growth. Vegetable oil consumption was also projected to grow by about 1.4%.[2a] Though, it was already stated in this Outlook that the pandemic spread of COVID-19 has resulted in a reduction of mobility with substantial implications for away-from-home consumption. Hence, the demand for vegetable oil, widely used for deep-frying, may have been affected. In addition, the decline in economic activity and reduced crude oil price curb the demand for vegetable oil as biodiesel feedstock.[2b] In fact, global production of the major vegetable oils decreased by 0.64 Mt (0.3%) in 2020/21, followed by a lower-than-projected increase of 0.8% in 2021/22. In 2022/23, global production grew by 4.4%, close to the growth projected in summa.[3] The minor production is mainly due to the slow to negative growth in palm oil production in Malaysia and Indonesia due to weather issues and labor shortages linked partly to the COVID pandemic.[4a] The global vegetable oil consumption corresponded in 2019/20 and 2020/21 approximately the projection, whereas a decrease of about 0.3% occurred in 2021/22.[2, 3] Global exports, which were projected to increase by 1.2% p. a.,[2a] decreased by 1.9 Mt (2.2%) in 2020/21 and by 6.4 Mt (7.9%) in 2021/22.[3] For example, China's COVID-related restrictions, slowing economic growth, and higher global commodity prices have weakened the country's demand for vegetable oil consumption. For the marketing year 2021/22, China's imports of major vegetable oils declined by 6.13 Mt (46%) and domestic consumption by 3.8 Mt (9.4%).[3, 4b] On the other hand, the export of palm oil by Indonesia declined by 4.7 Mt for the marketing year 2021/22, followed by an increase in domestic consumption of 2.45 Mt, primarily due to biodiesel production combined with an increased biodiesel blending mandate of up to 35%.[3, 4c] Moreover, the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered a series of major impacts on the global oilseed market. Ukraine exported 0.8 Mt (15%) less sunflower seed oil in the marketing year 2021/22 than in the previous year.[3, 4d] Last but not least, we would like to invite you to the 12th Workshop on Fats and Oilsas Renewable Feedstock for the Chemical Industry from June 3 to 5, 2024. Hopefully, you will have the opportunity to participate. We are looking forward to an exciting and fruitful discussion with you, the fats and oils community. The program and additional information will be available in September 2023 (http://www.abiosus.org/meetings.html.de). The authors declare no conflict of interest.