Cargill has announced a multi-million dollar expansion of its edible oil plant in Port Klang, Malaysia, adding a new speciality fats production line. This strategic move comes as the Asia-Pacific region is positioned as the fastest-growing market for chocolate, with its share projected to increase from 19.6% in 2025 to 22% by 2030.
The new investment will enable advanced palm oil processes, producing a broad range of cocoa butter equivalents, low-trans fatty acid cocoa butter replacers and speciality fats for chocolate confectionery, frying, baking and fillings applications.
The expansion is a response to the region’s burgeoning demand driven by rising incomes, rapid urbanisation, and shifting consumer preferences for chocolate and bakery products. While Europe remains the largest market, North America is experiencing steady growth, and the Middle East is also seeing notable expansion, positioning Cargill to capitalize on significant market opportunities.
Kashan Rashid, Vice President and Managing Director of Cargill’s Food Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, mentioned that the new production line at Port Klang will ensure customers have reliable access to high-quality, versatile speciality fats. This will also allow its customers to develop more products tailored to diverse market needs.
Apart from the use of cocoa ingredients, Cargill’s expanded speciality fats portfolio offers flexible solutions to manufacturers to optimize formulations while maintaining taste and texture consistency. Its customers will also have alternative solutions to work around costs in a challenging market.
Cargill’s existing brands include Coconera for chocolate applications, Olinera NH for improved cocoa flavour compatibility, and Ocolna for chocolate spreads and soft fillings. Cargill is also introducing new brands featuring semi-customised speciality fat blends to meet evolving market needs which includes Cargill Bakefry, a high-performance frying fat for foodservice and quick-service restaurant operators, and Cargill Bakefill, designed for fillings such as buttercream and bakery cream.
Currently, Cargill has 2 edible oil facilities in Malaysia that supply speciality fats across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The Port Klang facility is significant for being the first within Cargill’s global edible oils network to implement speciality fats processing technology, enhancing the company’s capacity to deliver a varied product portfolio. In addition, Cargill’s lipid research and development (R&D) center, also located at the Port Klang plant, facilitates rapid product and process development in collaboration with customers.
US-based Cargill was founded in 1865 and is currently a global agribusiness giant with more than 155,000 employees and an annual turnover exceeding US$150 billion in 2025.
