# Oats

A cool-climate cereal once grown to fuel horses, now a smaller crop prized for porridge, oat milk and animal feed.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/

Grains · No. 90

- Not on a critical list
- HHI 665 · unconcentrated
 Grains · Foundation · Matter

Oats once fuelled the world's horses; when tractors arrived, the crop nearly halved and found new life in porridge.

Chart: Illustration: Oats

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Oats like cool, moist summers and tolerate poor, acid soils, growing from the Canadian prairies to Finland. World output was 22.4 Mt in 2024.

##### Three things to know

1. World oat production fell from 39.9 Mt in 1990 to 22.4 Mt in 2024, a 44% drop that began when tractors replaced horses.
2. Canada supplied 43.9% of world oat export value in 2024, and the US took 31.6% of imports, mostly by rail.
3. Oats are rich in soluble fibre called beta-glucan, which supports the health claims on breakfast boxes.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Cool farmland**Sown in spring on cool, moist land
2. 2 **Harvest**Combine harvested in late summer
3. 3 **Grading**Sorted for milling or feed
4. 4 **Milling**Dehulled, kilned and rolled
5. 5 **End uses**Oatmeal, cereals, oat drinks, feed
 Covered in [Biorefineries and platform chemicalsChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/biorefineries-platform-chemicals/)[Muscles, wood, water and wind: energy before fossil fuelsEnergy](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/energy/energy-before-fossil-fuels/)

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## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/oats/links/index.md)