Demand in China, India, Middle East increases

09/10/2009 (Food Business Review) - Sime Darby is looking to expand its palm oil processing operations in China to meet rising demand for cookies, ice cream and instant noodles from the country's growing middle class, the chairman of the company said, reported FLEXNEWS, quoting Reuters as its source.

Tun Musa Hitam stated that it was not unlikely that annual Malaysian palm oil exports to China could double in the next decade, from a level of around 4 million tonnes at present. He also expected growing Chinese investments in palm oil in countries such as Malaysia.

However, Dato Azhar Abdul Hamid , managing director of plantations of Sime Darby, said that uptake of the 'sustainable' variety of palm oil was slow, even though it now carried only a small premium to uncertified palm oil.

Alexander van der Klauw, managing director of Unimills, a Sime Darby-owned vegetable oil processor in Europe, said:"We see inquiries, customers want to know if we could supply it, they want to know how far we are, but it will become the norm in the future," the website reported.