PROCESSED PALM OIL

Malaysia, the leading producer of palm oil, is now also the major producer and exporter of processed palm oil (PPO). Since 1977 she has been exporting PPO in increasing amounts. As a result about 50% of world production of palm oil is now traded as PPO in the international market. Currently, Malaysia has processing capacity far exceeding her production of crude palm oil. Guaranteed capacities for physical refining, fractionation and chemical neutralization are 12,075, 9,940 and 4,949 metric tons (MT) per day, respectively. These can be increased to 16,285, 12,705 and 6,170 MT per day, respectively, by some modification and rationalization. Thus Malaysia is geared to cope with increased production of PPO at least up to 1990. The PPO products exported are the results of primary down streaming of crude palm oil. The production and export of these products are very well established. The emphasis is now on further down-streaming of PPO products into specialized products such as food ingredients, nonfood applications and finished products such as shortenings, margarine, cocoa butter replaces fats and oleo-chemicals both for local consumption and export. By the end of the decade, Malaysia is likely to become a center for the manufacture of basic oleo-chemicals and their derivatives.