Past, present andfuture in ASEAN

摘要

In just four decades, the oleochemical industry in the ASEAN region has grown out of its infancy and developed into a fully functioning sector serving a multitude of applications. Qua Kiat Seng writesMalaysia has a highly successful agricultural industry that has nurtured equally successful downstream processing sectors. The first commercial planting of oil palm took place in 1917 in Tcnnamaran Estate in Selangor on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.In the 1960s, the pace of oil palm cultivation accelerated, with the Malaysian government encouraging technological improvements to further add value to its exports. One such value addition stream is oleochemieals.