The Kuok Group, a key shareholder of Wilmar, incorporated Federal Flour Mills, now known as FFM Berhad, in Malaysia in 1966.  Commencement of other earlier projects include a 400 MT/day soybean crushing plant and a 200 MT/day edible oils refinery in August 1980 and February 1981 respectively for the PGEO Group in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia. Arawana consumer pack oil was launched in Malaysia in 1986. This was followed by the acquisitions of refineries in Sandakan and Prai.

In 1988, the Kuok Group formed a joint venture (JV), Southseas Oils & Fats, with Top Glory, a subsidiary of COFCO in Hong Kong, to build China’s first large-scale modern refinery, drum and consumer pack plant in Shenzhen. The plant was commissioned in 1990 and became a huge success. Arawana oil was launched in 1991 in China and is today the country’s top consumer pack oil brand.

The Wilmar Group was co-founded by Mr Kuok Khoon Hong and Mr Martua Sitorus. The first company formed was Wilmar Trading Pte Ltd which had a paid-up capital of SGD100,000 and five employees.

The company’s first project was PT Agra Masang Perkasa (AMP) – a 7,000 ha oil palm plantation in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Today, Wilmar is one of the world’s largest oil palm plantation owners with upstream operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria.

The plantation project was followed by a 50 MT/day palm kernel crushing plant in North Sumatra and a 700 MT/day refinery in Dumai, Indonesia. Riding on the back of a growing refining business, the refinery, commissioned in 1993, was expanded to 2,400 MT/day by 1995.

The Indonesian business flourished and today we are the largest palm oil refiner, palm kernel and copra crusher, as well as specialty fats, oleochemicals biodiesel and consumer pack oils manufacturer in the country.

Ventured into China through a JV with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Top Glory, a subsidiary of COFCO, and started construction of East Ocean Grains Industry (EOGI) which at the time was the first large, integrated oils and grains manufacturing complex in China. Following its huge success, Wilmar and ADM went on about three years later to build five large-scale crushing plants mainly along the coast.

Formed a JV with the Adani Group of India to refine edible oils and manufacture consumer pack edible oils in Bangladesh.

Started ship ownership with the purchase of 6,000 MT tanker, MT. Lisa. The domestic fleet in Indonesia and China started in 1995 and 2004 respectively. The Group’s fleet has since grown to include both owned and managed vessels, with a combined fleet tonnage of about 2.8 million MT.

ADM invested in 20% of Wilmar. Around the same time, other investors took another 20%. ADM remains a long-standing investor and business partner of the Group today.

Formed a JV, Adani Wilmar Limited, with the Adani Group in India. Its first project, a 600 MT/day oil refinery and consumer pack plant in Mundra, Gujarat commenced operation in 2000 and was expanded by another 1,000 MT/day in 2002. Adani Wilmar operates more than 100 plants in India today and its ‘Fortune’ brand is the country’s top-selling consumer pack soft oils.

Inaugural footprint in Africa with the acquisition of a 50% stake in Southcomm, an oil trading firm selling mainly to South Africa and Tanzania. This was followed by the acquisition of a 50% stake in Kenya-based oil trading company Josovina Commodities in 2001.

The next project was an oil palm plantation and refinery in Kalangala, Uganda developed jointly with Bidco Uganda Limited.  

Today Wilmar is in 16 countries across Africa and we are one of the largest oil palm plantation owners, edible oils refiners and producers of consumer pack oils, soaps and detergents, as well as the third largest sugar producer.

Established a JV with Pyramid Ltd to build the first 200 MT/day refinery and consumer pack oil plant in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is today the country’s largest refinery, consumer pack oil and specialty fats manufacturer.

First oleochemical plant was commissioned in Shanghai, China.

Entered a JV for an oil refinery project in Yuzhny, Ukraine and in 2008 merged it with NMGK which had refineries, crushing plants, margarine, mayonnaise and soap manufacturing plants in Russia.

The Yuzhny plant is the largest refinery in Ukraine and NMGK is the largest seller of table margarine, mayonnaise and sauces in Russia.

Wilmar’s oil palm business was listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange with an initial market capitalisation of SGD2.38 billion.

Entered into the flour and rice milling business in China with the first flour mill in Zhoukou and the first rice mill in Jiamusi.

Wilmar merged with the Kuok Group’s oils and grains and oil palm plantation business. The merger created the largest merchandiser and refiner of palm oil, the largest integrated agri- group in Asia and one of the largest listed oil palm plantation companies. At the time of merger in 2007, the Kuok Group had oil palm plantation of 63,000 ha in East Malaysia and 56,000 ha in Indonesia while Wilmar had 76,000 ha in Indonesia. The Group’s market capitalisation after the merger was SGD20.3 billion.

Through the merger, Wilmar had extended its footprint to Vietnam with two refineries and a rice bran oil extraction plant, as well as to Europe with two refineries.

In addition, Wilmar bought two copra crushing plants with total crushing capacity of 1,000 MT/ day and a 350 MT/day refinery in the Philippines. The first biodiesel plant was commissioned in Pelintung, Indonesia.

Wilmar expanded into the sugar business through the acquisition of Sucrogen Limited (known today as Wilmar Sugar) in Australia – one of the world’s largest sugar companies, and PT Jawamanis Rafinasi – a leading sugar refiner in Indonesia. Proserpine Mill, fifth largest sugar mill in Australia, and PT Duta Sugar International in Indonesia were added to the sugar business the following year.

First venture in the United States, Wilmar Oils & Fats (Stockton), LLC, commenced operations. It processes palm, coconut and palm kernel oils for the California and neighbouring West Coast markets.

Acquired a 100-acre site in Thilawa Port Area, Yangon, to build an international wharf and integrated processing facilities. The jetty was completed in 2018. The Group is the largest exporter of palm oil to Myanmar and a leading seller of consumer pack oil.

Formed a JV with Great Wall Food Stuff Industry Company Limited, the leading sugar company in Myanmar. The JV operates two sugar mills, a bio-ethanol plant and an organic compound fertiliser plant.

Acquired a strategic stake in Shree Renuka Sugars Limited which has seven mills, two port-based refineries and a consumer brand Madhur. Today we own about 62% in the leading sugar company in India.