4/4/06 (The Star)  -  GUA MUSANG: Oil palm mill specialist CB Industrial Product Holding Bhd (CBIP) is in negotiations with several large plantation groups including Asiatic Development Bhd to supply them with its modular Modipalm automated palm oil mills, managing director Lim Chai Beng said.

Other interested parties included Golden Hope Plantations Bhd, JC Chang group, Tradewinds Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, he told StarBiz after the opening of CBIP's third generation palm oil mill at Sungai Terah, Kelantan yesterday.

CBIP's existing clients for its Modipalm mills include such plantation heavyweights as Golden Hope Plantations Bhd, IOI Corp Bhd, TH Plantations Bhd and Tradewinds Bhd.At a briefing in Petaling Jaya last week, Lim had expressed hopes that major Malaysian palm oil producers would sit up and take notice of its modular Modipalm automated palm oil mills. 

“I hope the mills will attract companies like IOI Corp Bhd, KL Kepong and Sime Darby Bhd,” he said. 

 
Lim Chai Beng

Currently, Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd and Perlis Plantations Bhd are the company’s local clients, while its overseas clients include Cargill, PT Agro Indomas, PT Rea Kaltim and PT Minamas.

CBIP has just built a third-generation Modipalm mill in Gua Musang, Kelantan for Sungai Terah Palm Oil Mill Sdn Bhd, which is the result of a RM13mil investment to upgrade the technology that enables such plants to be partially automated. Its maximum production capacity is 25 tonnes per hour (with the present facilities) but Lim said that it could expand to 90 tonnes per hour.

“The Gua Musang plant uses third-generation Modipalm technology. We already have the foundations for a mill with fourth-generation technology set up,” Lim said, adding that he expected fifth-generation mills – fully automated plants – to be built in 2½ years. 

CBIP has already invested RM2mil in R&D for fifth-generation Modipalm technology. 

Modipalm mills are said to have a lower operating and maintenance cost, environmentally friendly as it eradicates boiler smoke, and has better oil and kernel recovery than conventional mills.

Lim was upbeat on the performance of CBIP this year, with continued demand from the Indonesian market and crude palm oil prices being factors that would spur the company’s growth. As for challenges, he identified the slow adoption of technology from plantation companies as the biggest hindrance to the demand for Modipalm mills.