Operations
Review

A Global Integrated Agribusiness

At the core of Wilmar’s strategy is a resilient business model encompassing the entire value chain of the agricultural commodity business, from origination, processing, merchandising to manufacturing of a wide range of branded consumer products.

Over the years, we have invested substantially in building an integrated agri and food business which gives us economies of scale and operational efficiencies, allowing us to be one of the most efficient producers in the industry.

This efficiency is complemented by our strategically located facilities found near the coastal areas of both origin and destination markets, which enable us to manage transport, logistic and operational costs effectively. We also own a fleet of liquid and dry bulk carriers to support our shipping requirements. As at 31 December 2021, the Group owned and controlled tankers / dry bulk vessels with a total tonnage of about 2.6 million MT.

One of our key assets is our people. We believe we have some of the best people in the industry who have stayed with us for many years and built our Group to what it is today. Our business partners are another great asset who have contributed to the success of the Group in many countries.

Company Developments

In 2021, we continued to invest in our businesses in various countries such as China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea, adding oil refinery, crushing plants, rice bran extraction plant, flour mills, rice mills, consumer edible oil, flour, rice and sugar packing plants, biodiesel plants and specialty fats plant.

In China, our Central Kitchen Food Park project is progressing well with the first facility in Hangzhou completed and in the trial production stage. We plan to build multiple integrated food park complexes throughout the country located within or close to our integrated manufacturing complexes. These central kitchens will enable us to prepare convenient ready-to-eat yet fresh meals which will be distributed efficiently via our existing extensive network to reach time-strapped and on-the-go consumers. We plan to target institutions such as schools, elder care homes and commercial canteens. The Food Parks will also house suppliers of raw material and other food producers to create a food eco-system where direct access to food ingredients and sharing of common manufacturing facilities will improve production efficiency and product quality.

For our sugar business, our Kandla refinery in India was affected by logistic constraints related to Covid-19 lockdown in the first half of 2021. This led us to initiate an investment programme to improve quality grade, logistics and efficiency, thus lowering cost performance. The benefits of these investments are expected to show in the second half of 2022 and will allow the Kandla refinery to continue to be one of the lowest-cost producers in the country. Through our associate, Cosumar, our new refinery located in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, started production in July 2021 and is performing in line with technical expectations. Full production will be reached in 2022, with an expected annual production capacity of 700,000 MT. We will also continue our investments in renewable energies.

Global Manufacturing Capacities

As at 31 December 2021, the Group has plants located in 32 countries/regions with the following capacities:

* Edible oil refining capacity includes palm oil and soft oils
** Crushing capacity includes oilseeds crushing and rice bran extraction