New cooking oil company to build local packaging plant
New cooking oil company to build local packaging plant
A new local cooking oil supplier, Lao Agriculture Development Import Export Sole Co Ltd, plans to build a packing factory at the Km21 Vientiane industrial zone, Khoksa-ath within the next six months after it introduced the new brand last month.
“Our plan is to reduce the expenditure of direct cooking oil imports from Malaysia, which makes the product costly,” the project coordinator, Mr Phousavay Douangmany, said in an interview last Wednesday.
The new cooking oil, named ‘Dok Champa Daeng', was packed and import directly from Malaysia, making it a little expensive at about 15,000 kip per litre, but it is good quality.
“Once the construction of the packaging plant is completed, we will fill and package locally, helping to reduce costs,” Phousavay said.
“We have talked about our plan to the authorities there at the zone. Once we start the constriction of the plant and the installation of machinery in next six months, it should take only around another three months to complete it,” he said.
This means the company will start filling and packing in Laos within the next ten months if construction targets are met, with the venture expected to cost about 800 million kip (US$100,000).
“Currently we don't know how large the plant will be or its ultimate capacity because it is currently under study,” he said. The company also hopes to build another plant in Champassak province at the same time, Mr Phousavay revealed.
Lao Agriculture Develop-ment has two supply outlets in Champassa k province and Vientiane, but the product is yet to go on sale as the company is under purchase negotiations with shops, mini-marts and market owners.
About 22,000 litres of cooking oil has been imported by the company, and, according to Mr Phousavay, sales are expected to start this week.
Once oil begins being packed locally, the company also plans to stop importing the product.
“Based on our initial plan, we expect to produce the oil locally through palm tree plantations,” Mr Phousavay said.
The project will be a collaborative effort between the company and the Lao National Veterans Federation.
The company will supply the oil palm species and plantation technique while the Lao National Veterans Federation will provide the necessary farm land and labour to produce the palm fruit to supply the factory.
The plantation project needs about 40,000ha to supply enough palm fruit the demand of cooking oil.“Our aim is to plant the oil palm trees in Laos, in the Borikhamxay and Khammuan provinces,” Mr Phousavay explained.
When the time comes to start work on plantations, the company will need to build a plant for cooking oil production – which, according to Mr Phousavay, would cost at least 144 billion kip (US$18 m illion).
Currently Laos has a large cooking oil plant run by Sengsavang Food and Plastic Production Co. Ltd in Chanthabouly district, Vientiane.
The company's products are sold under the brand name Somboun, and first entered the market in the year 2000. Previously only sold in Vientiane, the oil is now marketed nationwide.
It imports cooking oil from Malaysia and Thailand to supply the local market. The plant has the capacity to fill and supply about 63,600 litres of oil per day, including 1 litre bottles and 18 litres batches.
vientiane times
