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Plans heat up for Lao cooking oil factory
A local cooking oil importer, Lao Agro Tech Co Ltd, expects to complete the construction of a small-scale cooking oil factory in Vientiane province within the next five years.
The company will start construction when oil palms planted in the province reach three or four years of age and can supply the factory with sufficient fruit.
“This project will involve an investment of 8 billion to 16 billion kip (US$1-2 million),” company representative Mr Nathapol Punchasila said at a Thai cooking oil ‘Rasa' brand presentation ceremony in Vientiane on Friday.
The project may develop into a joint venture between Lao Agro Tech and TS Oil Industry Company Limited of Thailand. “However, we will be the main shareholder. The Thai company will mainly provide technical assistance,” Mr Nathapol said.
The factory will have the capacity to process about 100 tonnes of palm fruit per day. “The oil produced will be marketed under a Lao brand name,” he said.
Lao Agro Tech also hopes to build a biodiesel plant with a similar investment figure, aiming to use the leftovers from the cooking oil processing to make biodiesel.
The company is currently seeking a land concession from the government to grow the oil palms. It plans to work with plantation farmers to build the factory.
Mr Nathapol said the company will encourage farmers to plant more oil palms in the area and will provide them with saplings, fertiliser, technical assistance and funding. The farms will be located mainly in Vientiane province and Vientiane.
At present, Lao Agro Tech is busy growing oil palm saplings, after setting up a nursery two years ago. The oil palms will only take three or four years to bear fruit.
Company staff are working with Naxaithong district officials in Vientiane on the palm plantation project.
“If the scheme goes ahead, we need at least 500 hectares to supply enough palm fruit for the factory's processing requirements,” Mr Nathapol said.
Currently the company imports Thai cooking oil for local distribution, which it has been doing for the past two months.
Laos' only cooking oil manufacturer, Sengsavang Food and Plastic Production Company, is located in Savang village, Chanthabouly district, Vientiane. Sengsavang imports unfiltered cooking oil from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand then filters and packages the oil in labelled containers and bottles that are made by the company.
The products, sold under the brand name ‘Somboun', first came on the market in 2000. The company's sales and market share remain stable and output has been increasing every year.
In 2004, Sengsavang sold 1.5 million litres of oil, up from 400,000 litres in 2003. This increased by an additional 10 percent in 2005 and another 10 percent in 2006. The company currently imports about 5,760 tonnes of unfiltered oil per year.
The oil is mainly sold in Vientiane, with the remainder distributed to provinces nationwide. The company also manufactures plastic drinking water bottles for local supply.
vientiane times
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