Shin Yang-controlled SOP profits from 820,000 tonnes of FFB from Sarawak land in 2011

SOP registers 22 per cent FFB growth last year

Posted on January 6, 2012, Friday

KUCHING: Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd’s (SOP) registered a 22 per cent growth in fresh fruit bunch (FFB) for the year 2011 when compared with the yield for 2010.
OSK Research Sdn Bhd (OSK Research) stated that 2011 FFB production was above 820,000 tonnes while crude palm oil (CPO) production was above 310,000 tonnes, representing a 30 per cent boost from 2010.
“Weather has been good so far in central and northern Sarawak where SOP’s estates are located. FFB production growth this year should be in the high-teens,” the research house opined.
To cater for its FFB production growth, the company was building two CPO mills with a total capital expenditure estimated at RM115 million.
A 60 tonne per hour CPO mill would be completed and begin operations in mid-2012 while another 90 tonne per hour mill would come on stream in 2013.
Meanwhile, the company’s 1,500 tonne per day refinery in Bintulu was on track to commence operations in April this year.
The refinery should be fully utilised by the company’s own CPO production within two to three years, of which then the company would look to further expand its downstream capacity.
As of now, SOP’s own CPO production would cater for about 70 per cent of the refinery’s capacity, OSK Research stated. Based on 12 times financial year 2012 price earnings ratio, the research house pegged SOP’s fair value at RM6.51 per share.