Bangkok - June 21, 2004 - MD Chusak Prachayangprecha of Chumporn Palm OilIndustry PCL says the company plans on doubling production capacity tomeet an anticipated increase in demand in markets at home and abroad.

In a recent interview, Chusak told Dow Jones Newswires the company isconstructing a new 420 million baht palm oil refinery, which will be readyfor commercial operation in approximately 18 months.

Chusak said the new plant will raise the company's refining capacity to600 metric tons of crude palm oil per day from the current capacity of 300tons a day.

Chusak ssid, "The expansion came about because we have fully utilized thecurrent capacity, while the palm oil market is growing robustly."