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Felcra to Build Its First Palm Oil Refinery

Posted on: Sunday, 16 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

TRONOH, Sat. - Felcra Bhd will build its first palm oil refinery at the

Lumut Port early next year.

Felcra chairman Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin said this would create a new

demand for crude palm oil (CPO) and pave the way for the company to be

more involved in downstream activities.

The RM100 million plant, to be built within 18 months, will be able to

process at least 20,000 tonnes of CPO daily.

Over RM6 million was spent on an eight-hectare piece of land for the

refinery, he said, adding Felcra was in the midst of drawing up its plans

and would submit them for approval soon.

"We are changing Felcra," he said after witnessing Perak Menteri Besar

Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali present dividends of almost RM45 million

to Felcra smallholders in the State's nine districts. "We don't want to

only produce natural resources."

Over 25,000 Felcra smallholders received the pre-Aidilfitri dividends.

Felcra also set aside RM17.8 million for 4,600 of Perak's hard- core

poor families .

The supply of CPO for the refinery will come from Felcra's 15,

200-hectare oil palm estates in Perak. Felcra will also buy from CPO

mills owned by government agencies, such as the State Agriculture

Development Corporation, to make up the remaining 30 per cent.

He said to prepare for this move, Felcra had established 10 CPO mills

in the country including three in Perak.

While some of the refined oil would be exported, a portion would be

used for the local production of value-added products.

"This is the beginning of other downstream activities," he said,

indicating that new industries would commence in areas near the refinery.

Felcra has already begun making rubber hoses, from latex, in Perak.

It is now in discussions with "big companies" from the Middle East on

the production of shortening and soup noodles.

Source: New Straits Times

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