One of The World's Largest Palm Oil Exporter
Malaysia currently accounts for 39 % of world palm oil production and 44% of world exports. If taken into account of other oils & fats produced in the country, Malaysia accounts for 12% and 27% of the world's total production and exports of oils and fats. Being one of the biggest producers and exporters of palm oil and palm oil products, Malaysia has an important role to play in fulfilling the growing global need for oils and fats sustainably.
For History of Malaysia Palm Oil click here.
The refining of crude palm oil commenced in the early 70s in response to Government's call for increased industrialization. The emergence of refineries marked the introduction of a wide range of processed palm oil products.
In the 80s, another important milestone was marked where oleochemicals industry begins to flourish due to ample supply of palm and palm kernel oil. This also leads Malaysia to become a world leader in the oleochemicals sector to date.
The Processing Of Palm Oil
A unique feature of the oil palm is that it produces two types of oil - palm oil from the flesh of the fruit, and palm kernel oil from the seed or kernel. For every 10 tonnes of palm oil, about 1 tonne of palm kemel oil is also obtained. Several processing operations are used to produce the finished palm oil that meets the users' requirements. The first step in processing is at the mill, where the crude palm oil is extracted from the fruit. The various steps in extraction are shown in the Flow Chart.
The crude palm oil may be further refined (second stage of processing) to get a wide range of palm products of specified quality. The partly and wholly processed grades require little further treatment before use, offering end-user a saving in processing costs.
Palm oil may also be fractionated, using simple crystallization and separation processes to obtain solid (stearin) and liquid (olein) fractions of various melting characteristics. The different properties of the fractions make them suitable for a variety of food and non-food products.
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