New data from USDA’s Economic Research Service shows demand for soybean oil increased its price in 2021 and so far in 2022.
Soybean oil is the most widely used vegetable oil, and soybean oil use has typically accounted for over 50 percent of total domestic disappearance of all vegetable oil used in the United States. Given the versatility of soybean oil and the limited supplies of substitute oils, steady growth in food and industrial demand for soybean oil caused domestic prices to rise.
In March 2022, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service reported that average monthly soybean oil prices in Decatur, Illinois, a leading indicator market for soybean oil, had reached 76 cents per pound, more than 40 percent higher than a year earlier. Rising monthly prices have contributed to increases in the 2021/22 U.S. season-average soybean oil price, currently projected at $0.70 per pound, an increase of 23 percent from the prior marketing year.