Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) today at the China World Summit Wing in Beijing, China with China’s leading state-owned enterprise and supplier of oils and grains, COFCO Group Co. Ltd. (COFCO) to establish new cooperation on downstream applications of palm oil and its related products.
The MoU was signed by Sime Darby Plantation Executive Deputy Chairman & Managing Director Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh and COFCO Chief Executive Officer Patrick Yu, witnessed by the Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, during his five-day visit to China.
Also present were Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok, Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, International Trade and Industry Minister Ignatius Darell Leiking and Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister le Datuk Salahuddin Ayub.
The MOU includes a joint research on the health benefits of palm oil, developing capabilities to manufacture specialty oils and fats, and establishing joint sales and marketing activities to promote high value differentiated palm products in China.
Through these initiatives, both SDP and COFCO hope to create greater demand for certified sustainable palm oil and increase trade volumes between the two companies.
Under the terms of the memorandum, SDP and COFCO will conduct further research on the health benefits of products such as palm tocotrienol, red palm olein, and palm kernel oil. In addition, both companies intend to develop specialty products such as premium shortening and bakery fats for the Chinese market, and to explore possibilities to co-manufacture these healthy oils and specialty fats in Malaysia.
