Sime Darby and COFCO Ink Agreement on Palm Oil Trade

Malaysia’s Sime Darby Plantation (SDP) and China’s COFCO Group Co. Ltd. (COFCO) recently signed an agreement with a view to collaborate palm oil related ventures and increase trade between the two nations.  The MOU includes a joint research project on the health benefits of palm oil products such as palm tocotrienol, red palm olein, and palm kernel oil.  It also extends to the manufacturing of specialty oils and fats, as well as collaborative sales and marketing efforts over high-value differentiated palm oil products in China.  

SDP is currently the world’s largest producer of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) as well as the largest palm oil plantation corporation, in terms of plantation acreage, worlwide.  It is also one of Malaysia’s biggest state-owned enterprises.  COFCO is an investment holding company, providing agricultural and food products in China and internationally.  It is also involved in the processing, warehousing, distribution, and trading of oils and oilseeds; sale of cooking oil, among others.