Global agribusiness giant Cargill has begun a US$35M expansion of its production plant in Port Klang, Malaysia as part of a wider US$100M investment designed to expand the company’s global speciality fats portfolio, the company announced on 8 November.
“With this investment, we’ll be better positioned to support our customers…, equipped with the building blocks necessary to co-create tailored solutions that align with their… needs,” Jennifer Shomenta, president and group leader for Cargill’s global edible oils solutions business, said.
The company said it would be installing dry palm fractionation capacity at its Port Klang site for the production of a range of speciality fats for use in chocolates, coatings, fillings and compounds, spreads, baking fats and other applications.
The latest expansion project followed an almost complete US$20M upgrade to Cargill’s Malaysia Edible Oils R&D Center, the company said, where further improvements were planned to align with the Port Klang facility’s new speciality fat capabilities.
Cargill said the two projects were the first of what it expected to be multiple investments, spread across its global speciality fat production plants.
“All too often, brands must navigate complicated supply chains to procure their speciality fats, purchasing oil from one supplier, then shipping it to others for further processing,” Shomenta said.
“Through our investments at Port Klang and across our global processing locations, we’ll eliminate those extra steps.”
Due for completion in late 2023, Cargill said the Port Klang expansion would allow the company to begin supplying speciality fats throughout the Asia Pacific region, and semi-finished products to its facilities in Europe, the Middle East, Russia, South America and North America.