Musim Mas expands oleochemical project

Musim Mas expands oleochemical project

PT Musim Mas, an integrated palm oil producer, has embarked on an
expansion of its oleochemical plant near the North Sumatra port
of Belawan that will increase its annual production capacity to
357,000 metric tons of fatty alcohol, medium-chain triglycerides,
oleic acid, glycerine, fatty acids and high-quality soap.

The expansion, which will make the Musim Mas oleochemical
plant the second largest in the world after a plant in Malaysia
owned by Sime Darby, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2007,
according to Musim Mas Managing Director Surja.

"We are highly confident about our competitive advantages as
the Musim Mas group is an integrated industry that includes
plantations, palm oil mills, refineries, fractionation and palm
kernel crushing plants, and margarine, soap, specialty fats and
oleochemical plants," Surja added.

Musim Mas, one of the largest palm oil exporters in Indonesia,
is the only firm in the country that has won for five successive
years the Primanyarta award for distinguished export performance
and the only winner so far of the Primanyarta gold award given by
the government, Surja said.

It export to Europe, the U.S., China, Japan and other Asian
countries.

Surja said as the world demand for oleochemical products has
steadily been increasing, Musim Mas plans to build a third-stage
expansion of its oleochemical operations to further diversify its
products into biodiesel, esters and amines. -- JP