So I looked into this a little more. in 2013-2014 the US accounts for 19% of the worlds consumption of Soybean oil. World consumption of the soybean oil hit a new high in 2013-2014 at 44.606 Million Metric Tons thats 8.475 Million Metric Tons. 1 Metric ton = 2204.62 pounds. Crunch some numbers... that is 18,684,154,500 pounds of soy oil. Also giving us 373,683,090 pounds of Lecithin (1.85% - 2.75% can be extracted I went with 2% for that number. If we go off of human consumption of soy products only equaling 15% that would yield 127,437,000 pounds of Lecithin per year as well as 373,683,090 pounds of soy oil a year.

I searched high and low but could not find what the soy oil was used for, I was able to find a study from 2001-2002 that showed the USA also used 8.32 Million Metric Tons. 97% (8.09 million MT) Among the food uses, about 48% (3.89 million MT, 8,570 million pounds) was for shortening, 43%(3.58 million MT, 7,897 million pounds) for cooking and salad oils, 7% (0.56 millionMT, 1,237 million pounds) for margarine, and 1% (0.06 million MT, 125 million pounds) for other food uses. Soybean oil is used to produce about 95% of the total margarine and 83% of the total shortening consumed in the United States. Among the 0.24 million MT (519 million pounds) used in nonfood products, about 16% (0.04 million MT, 85 million pounds) was for resins and plastics, 12% (0.03 million MT, 60 million pounds) for paint and varnish, 13% (0.03 millionMT, 68 million pounds) for fatty acids, and 59% (0.14 million MT, 306 million pounds) for a myriad of other inedible uses. The use of soybean oil in lubricants, oleochemicals, bioplastics, the production of methyl soyate for environmentally friendly solvents, and for blending with diesel fuel to produce biodiesel (20% methyl soyate/80% diesel fuel) are significant parts of the soy oil used in nonfood applications.

OK this is where I need someone to argue with me or help me with some Vegan Stats. Is soy oil commonly found in Vegan food or used to cook Vegan food, if so is it used often? Is Lecithin commonly found in Vegan food, if so often?