17 September 2001 (Business Times) - RIKEVITA (M) Sdn Bhd will beinvesting RM106 million on a new plant to manufacture vegetablebased foodemulsifiers to tap the growing global demand.

The new plant will boost the company's annual capacity from 14,000 tonnesto 30,000 tonnes.

The plant, which will be located in the same 60,702 sq metre complex inJohor Baru's Tampoi Industrial Area as the existing one, will producevarious kinds of fatty acid esters, used as food manufacturing additives.

About RM69 million has been invested in the present plant since it was setup in 1991. The plant has a product range of more than 60 items, includingdistilled monoglceride as well as functional liquid and powder blends.

Some 95 per cent of the products are exported to more than 100 countriesin Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and the US.

The emulsifiers can be used in bread, cake, tofu, dairy products, noodlesand ice-cream manufacturing, as well as in the production of cosmetics,detergents and plastics.

Speaking to NST Business recently, Rikevita managing director Mamoru Harasaid: "Construction of the RM106 million plant started in August thisyear, and is expected to be completed by June next year, with commercialrun anticipated by October 2002.

"The expansion has been undertaken as we are running at full capacity atour present plant. Increasing the capacity and widening our product rangevia the new plant holds the key to tapping the growing global demand forthese products.

"The products, which are actually intermediaries for other industries,mainly food, will be sold through our export network.

"Last year, the Malaysian operations recorded a turnover of about RM46million. We are hopeful of reaching the RM48 million mark this year andmore than RM100 million after the new plant starts operations." Rikevita'sMalaysian operations is a 90:10 joint-venture between its parent companyRiken Vitamin Co Ltd and Mitsubishi Corporation, both of Japan.

The ISO 9002-certified plant is the only food emulsifier factory belongingto the group outside Osaka, Japan.

The group, which has three plants in China and four in Japan, produces awide range of products including vitamins, sauces, seasonings anddressings.

For the year ending March 2001, the total group turnover stood at 64billion yen (RM22 billion).

Hara said: "Our main raw materials are glycerine and palm oil, which areentirely locally procured.

"Our consumption of palm oil will more than double from the present 700tonnes once the new plant is established, helping to further theGovernment's vision of using it in value-added downstream activities." Hesaid 40 more people would be employed once the new hi-tech automated plantwas in operations. The company now has 78 employees.

"We currently spend about six per cent of our turnover on research anddevelopment at the RM5 million centre set up in January last year.

"The eight-member technical team at the centre is continually engaged increating new products and diversifying its applications to provide supportservices to our clients.

"The implementation of Afta in 2003 will not have a major impact on us, asthere is not much competition in this specialised turf."