Cargill expands refined food oil capacity
annual refining capacity by over 100,000 metric tones per year.
The company said the investment would increase refining capacity, raise efficiency and further develop Cargills production of value-added products.
The expansion is aimed at providing products with increased functionality, such as low trans-fatty acid and saturated fat content including interesterification expansion of 40,000 metric tonnes per year.
"The investments in the Hamburg facility will strengthen our position in the North and East European markets. It also represents a significant additional step into the market for value-added oils and fats," said Jos de Loor, head of Cargills refined oils business in Europe in a statement.
The investment is not only for the value-added oils and fats market, say the company, but will also enable production of the base products, like palm and coconut oil, will be enhanced.
The investment also sees Cargill becoming the first to use large-scale state-of-the-art enzyme technology.
The new interesterification capacity in Hamburg is being supported by the earlier expansion of the Rotterdam refinery in coconut and palm kernel (lauric) oils to over 400,000 metric tonnes per year.
The move by Cargill is in-line with the FAOs forecast that global oil/fat production would be increasing for 2005 to 2006. Palm oil production is proposed to grow by an average of five per cent, and is expected to account for the majority of the anticipated growth.
According to the FAO, demand will also continue to grow by an average of four per cent a year, with China, India and eastern Europe the main drivers.
Total oil production was quoted as being 131m tonnes in 2003/04, increasing to 145m tonnes for 2005/06.
