India, China and Indonesia have the largest peanut-growing areas in Asia, while in Africa the major producers are Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan. In the western hemisphere, the United States, Brazil, and Argentina are the leading peanut producers.
Seventy percent of the world peanut production occurs in the semiarid tropics. The average yield of peanuts in the semiarid tropics (0.8 t/ha of dried pods) is lower than the world average (estimated at 1.1 t/ha of dried pods in 1985) and much lower than yields of over 3 t/ha obtained in the developed countries.
Over 55% of the United States crop goes into peanut butter manufacture: the other 45% is distributed between candy, salted nuts, confections, bakery, items and peanuts crushed for oil.
However, in term of world consumption nearly 70% of the world peanut crop is used for oil product and peanut oil accounts for 20% of the total vegetable oil consumption.
World peanuts production
