April 22 2005 - GOLDEN Hope Plantations Bhd is expected to expandfurther its buying sprees abroad to ride on rising global palm oilconsumption, analysts say.

A sectoral analyst at MIDF Sisma Securities Sdn Bhd said there are hugeunder-explored opportunities abroad.

"The African, American and Eastern European and East Asian markets arejust some of the few that have still so much potential for growth," theanalyst said.

Golden Hope’s recent overseas forays include last week’s alliance withSaudi Arabia’s Savola Edible Oils Co Ltd to market various oils and fatsproducts in West Asia.

A few days earlier, Golden Hope bought two Unilever brands " Crispa andHolsum " in South Africa through its wholly-owned South Africansubsidiary, Hudson & Knight (Pty) Ltd, and lauched a new refinery inVietnam a month before that.

In the past four years, Golden Hope has also bought Hudson & Knight’s RM69million edible oil refinery in South Africa and Europe’s second largestrefinery, Unimills, for RM200 million.

With the collaboration, Golden Hope now has operations in refining,margarine, bakery, cooking oil, vegetable ghee and shortening making, palmoil production and processing, palm kernel oil, rubber manufacturing,vitamin E, tropical fruit juices, concentrated coconut milk and others.

Malaysia’s second largest palm oil company now has operations in sevencountries: the Netherlands (Unimills), South Africa (Hudson and Knight)and Vietnam (Golden Hope-Nhabe), Bangladesh (Bangladesh Edible Oils Ltd),a distribution centre in Germany (Paul Tiefenbacher), Indonesia andMalaysia.

Industry experts say Malaysia, the world’s top palm oil producer, isexpected to be the most costly producer of the commodity in the world by2010 and it would be cheaper to operate outside the country.

E Avenue Asset Management Services Sdn Bhd executive director Hoo SeeKheng said there is always room for plantation companies to grow and goingabroad to acquire assets which can then increase yield is one of theoptions available.

However, analysts warned that not all plantation firms can go abroadbecause success would depend on their financial strengths.

"Setting up a base overseas involves a lot of capital. Only the big boyscan afford to venture overseas. To name a few, they are IOI Corp Bhd,Golden Hope, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd," said anRHB Group analyst.

The past few years have seen several Malaysian plantation companiesventuring abroad, given the limited availability of land in Malaysia.

Firms such as Kuala Lumpur Kepong, IOI Corp, Golden Hope and KumpulanGuthrie have been aggressively expanding overseas, particularly inIndonesia where land is ample and labour cheap.