Willowton expects rise in palm oil usage

Willowton Group, which uses 12,000-14,000 tonnes of palm oil a month to produce a wide range of products such as margarines and vegetable oils, expects its usage to rise by 10-15 per cent annually.

Its chief executive officer, Abdul Razak Moosa, said while it was difficult
to determine the origins of the palm oil used by the group as it usually made
the purchase via trading houses, those originating from Malaysia would roughly
made up 70-75 per cent.

"The last 10-12 years have seen more companies in South Africa using palm

oil as it is best for frying. This is the reason why many fast-food and
restaurant chains are using products made from palm oil.

"Currently, the main vegetable oil used by the group are sunflower,
constituting almost 60 per cent, and the rest are palm oil, soyabean oil and
canola oil," he said.

Abdul Razak told Bernama this during a visit to the group's manufacturing
facility in Pietermaritzburg, about an hour's ride from here, by Minister of
Plantation Industries and Commodities, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, yesterday.

He said the group, which started to import palm oil in 1989, was likely the
biggest customer of Malaysian palm oil among South African-owned companies.

"We use palm olein, palm stearin and palm kernel oil to manufacture
margarines and spreads as well as for baking and confectionary fats," he said.

Abdul Razak said palm oil was used in larger quantities compared to
sunflower because it was generally harder and would enable margarines and
spreads to solidify quickly.

"Palm olein cannot be used for cooking as it tends to become cloudy which
makes people think that they contain water.

"In South Africa, the consumers preferred clear cooking oil," he said. He said the Willowton Group was also the only South African-owned company to
be a member of the Round Table of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and this was a
good marketing point for the group.

"Some of our customers (companies in the food and hospitality industries)
insisted on it. "Of course, it costs money but at least they know that whatever palm products we produced, they comply with the RSPO certification," he said.

South Africa is a net importer of oils and fats as it is just able to meet
half of its domestic requirements and increases in production are minimal. --
Bernama