Groundnuts
A legume whose pods ripen underground, grown largely by smallholders and crushed for oil or eaten as nuts and peanut butter.
Oilseeds & oils · No. 95
- Not on a critical list
- HHI 1,725 · moderately concentrated
Peanut flowers push their stalks into the soil, so the nuts ripen underground, mostly on small farms in Asia and Africa.
Chart: Illustration: Groundnuts
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
A South American legume, the groundnut buries its own pods after flowering, so it likes loose, sandy soil. World output was 57.6 Mt in shell in 2024.
Three things to know
- Argentina, absent from the top six producers, was the largest groundnut exporter by value in 2024, with 22.7%.
- China grows about a third of the world's groundnuts yet was also the largest importer, with 17.3% of import value.
- World groundnut exports were worth about $3.9 billion in 2024, under a tenth of maize's $44.3 billion.
The journey
- 1 SowingSeed sown in warm, sandy soil
- 2 PeggingFlower stalks bury pods underground
- 3 LiftingPlants lifted, dried and threshed
- 4 GradingShelled, sized and tested for aflatoxin
- 5 End usesOil and cake, or roasted snacks