MPOB: Palm-based oleochemical sector offers ample investment opportunities
02/10/2022 (The Borneo Post), Miri - Malaysia’s palm-based oleochemical sector offers ample investment opportunities to meet increasing global demand, says director-general of Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Datuk Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir.
In a press statement, he said global demand for value-added products such as industrial chemicals, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, food supplements and pharmaceutical products is growing to meet global demographic and social changes; increasing wealth and improved well-being due to rapid urbanisation.
He quoted reports which showed that the global oleochemicals market has reached US$ 22.5 billion in 2021 with high compounded annual growth rate of 7.2 per cent from 2022 to 2027 to reach US$33.9 billion by 2027.
“This shows that global oleochemicals market is still growing rapidly with a high demand for oleochemicals. As such, investors should explore and invest in the country’s high potential palm-based oleochemical sector, backed by MPOB’s continuous research and development initiatives.
“Investing in Sabah and Sarawak has great potential for success as there is no oleochemical plant operating in both states. Investors can benefit from uninterrupted supply of palm oil and palm kernel oil for oleochemical business,” he stated.
He pointed out that Sarawak has the largest area planted with oil palm while Sabah is the biggest palm oil producing state in Malaysia.
As at August this year, there are 50 refineries, 42 palm kernel crushing plants and 20 oleochemical plants operating in Malaysia.
Dr Ahmad said MPOB’s research and development (R&D) activities for the oleochemical downstream sector cover eight main areas. These are surfactants, polyols and polyurethanes, cosmetics, agrochemicals, art chemicals, bio-lubricants, technology and environment.
MPOB provides pilot plant facilities and technical know-how for feasibility study and offers quality control and setting services.
Many palm-based oleochemical products produced through MPOB’s R&D activities have been commercisalised. These include cosmetics, personal care products, detergents, plastic materials, polymer processing materials, pharmaceutical creams and lubricating oils, pesticide formulations, concrete admixtures, gel candles, car cushions, decorative panels, sanitisers and shower gels.
“MPOB’s research has also successfully formulated animal feeds for commercialisation, using oil palm products and by-products such as crude palm oil and palm fatty acid distillates as energy sources, oil palm fronds, empty fruit bunches, oil palm trunks and palm pressed fibres as fibre sources, and palm kernel cakes as a protein source.”
He stated that MPOB’s formulation can reduce cost of animal feed which is rising due to high prices of imported raw ingredients such as corn and soybean for feed meals.
“The use of oil palm by-products in animal feed is one of the strategies to increase livestock productivity and sustainability while reducing the cost of feed production and reducing reliance on imported feed materials.”
He added that oil palm biomass can be a raw material for many products such as medium density fiberboards, particleboards, pulps and papers, plastic composites, and bio-composites and for bio-energy. Oil palm biomass can be a good alternative to wood in many applications.
“We have also developed technologies for extracting and retaining carotenoids in RBD (refined, bleached and deodorised) palm oil. A few manufacturers have adopted these technologies and are now producing red palm oil specifically to meet the demand for healthy lifestyle cooking and eating,” he disclosed.
Dr Ahmad informed that scientific studies have revealed health benefits of palm oil consumption and many experts who realised the unique properties of Malaysian palm oil have advocated the inclusion of palm oil in daily nutrition for a balanced and healthy diet.
Palm oil is rich in carotenoids, tocotrienols, sterols and squalene, Lecithin, co-enzyme Q and phytosterol.