Cargill is Building a $200M Sustainable Palm Oil Refinery in Indonesia

Cargill is investing $200 million to build a new sustainable palm oil refinery in Lampung, Indonesia as a means to connect the company’s traceable crude palm oil production in the country with demand from customers in North America and Europe.

The project ties into Cargill’s goals to scale its sustainable palm initiatives and adds to the creation of a fully integrated supply chain “from plantation to customer”.

Indonesia is the world’s top producer and exporter of palm oil, which has been experiencing strong demand due to its versatility and its ability to be a stabilizing, binding, and foaming agent. However, there has been significant push back against palm oil due to its connection with deforestation practices and its negative environmental impacts. Many palm oil companies are still not openly monitoring deforestation in their own or their suppliers’ pipelines, and transparency and traceability have been noted as being key factors in driving future consumer demand. This new refinery, which is expected to be completed in late 2022, will enable Cargill to offer assurances to its customers of its strict production requirements and product quality.

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