Malaysia trading with

Trading with Malaysia holds many attractions. It is the most prosperous country in the Far East, after Japan. Economically progressive, it has plenty of natural resources, including timber, tin, rubber, petrol and gas, palm oil products, and spices. Indeed, one can say that Malaysia is also a land of plenty. It enjoys a parliamentary democracy, constitutional monarchy and freedom of the press. It has a well-structured healthcare system, and its registration regulations are tailored to encourage multinationals to invest in the country. 

Cocoa butter is derived from the tree Theobroma cacao, which grows in several tropical areas, including Indonesia, the Ivory Coast, Malaysia, New Guinea and Brazil, which dominate the trade. The seeds of the tree, known as cocoa beans, were first consumed in the form of a drink prepared by the Maya and Aztec Indians. Cocoa beans were carried to Europe during the 16th century and the product was developed into the sweetened solid bar we are familiar with as chocolate. Cocoa butter is used mainly in the manufacture of chocolate confectionery, but it is also popular for applications in cosmetics and as an ingredient of pharmaceutical creams. 

Countries with small populations that produce large amounts of oilseeds/ oils and fats are the world s largest exporters of these commodities and dominate world trade. Examples include Malaysia, Argentina, Canada and Australia. 

It is now convincing that palm oil products are attractive renewable resources for the production of PHA. In order to ensure sufficient supply of this raw material for large-scale production of PHA, we should first take into account the amount of palm oil products generated in Malaysia every year. The data should include the net balance of global trade (import and export) and existing demand of end users. It was estimated that to produce 5,000 tons of PHA annually, approximately 7,000 tons of soybean oil were required with more than 150 batches of fermentation run (Akiyama et al. 2003). At the moment, this set of simulation is by far the closest and most relevant to the PHA fermentation from palm oil. Over the past decade, the average yield of palm oil on plantations has been measured at 3.8 tons per ha (Murphy 2007). Therefore, in order to produce 1 million tons of PHA, 450,000 ha of oil palm plantation is required. Hence, more lands have to be reclaimed to pave the way for new oil pahn plantation in order to produce more oil. Nevertheless, it has been suggested that the yield of oil could be doubled by... 

Due to climate- and soil-related cultivation restrictions, different oil crops are characteristic for different parts of the world. Nevertheless, a global market exists and international trade in oil seeds, vegetable oils, and respective by-products is significant. The major oil crops worldwide are oil palm, soybean, rapeseed (canola), and sunfiower (see Table 4.1). The latter three are described in more detail below. Palm oil, which is obtained from the oil palm tree mainly planted in South East Asia (especially in Indonesia and Malaysia), grew to be the vegetable oil with the highest consumption (42.1 million tons, 30%) ahead of soybean oil (37.9 million tons, 28%) [1]. It has several applications in food, oleochemicals, and other industries [2], while it is also discussed as a major source for biodiesel. 

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