25/04/05 - PT Musim Mas, an integrated palm oil producer, has embarked onan expansion of its oleochemical plant near the North Sumatra port ofBelawan that will increase its annual production capacity to 357,000metric tons of fatty alcohol, medium-chain triglycerides, oleic acid,glycerine, fatty acids and high-quality soap.

The expansion, which will make the Musim Mas oleochemical plant the secondlargest in the world after a plant in Malaysia owned by Sime Darby, isscheduled to be commissioned in 2007, according to Musim Mas ManagingDirector Surja.

"We are highly confident about our competitive advantages as the Musim Masgroup is an integrated industry that includes plantations, palm oil mills,refineries, fractionation and palm kernel crushing plants, and margarine,soap, specialty fats and oleochemical plants," Surja added.

Musim Mas, one of the largest palm oil exporters in Indonesia, is the onlyfirm in the country that has won for five successive years the Primanyartaaward for distinguished export performance and the only winner so far ofthe Primanyarta gold award given by the government, Surja said.

It export to Europe, the U.S., China, Japan and other Asian countries.

Surja said as the world demand for oleochemical products has steadily beenincreasing, Musim Mas plans to build a third-stage expansion of itsoleochemical operations to further diversify its products into biodiesel,esters and amines. -- JP