26/05/2011 (Share Cast) - Palm oil refiner, Biofutures, posted full year losses of £902,000, due to an increase in employee and administrative costs at its Malaysian operation.

The year ended on a high note, however, as the company's subsidiary, Zurex, obtained all the necessary licenses from the Malaysian government to operate its new palm oil refinery.

It also recently received a licence to import crude palm oil, the firm said.

Biofutures said the completion of the refinery was its first key performance indicator and the company aimed to be in profit by 31 December 2011.

The company said it was positive about the longer term prospects of the palm oil industry due to growing demand from both food and non-food sectors.

It estimates regional production will grow by more than 3m metric tonnes to approximately 42m metric tonnes in 2011, mainly due to the increase in production from previously planted areas in Indonesia.

The group said its long term strategy was to explore the possibilities of owning its own plantation and to invest in downstream activities such as fractionation and manufacturing of higher value-added products.