Musim Mas Group is an Indonesian food processing company operating globally in the

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...

industry, with a presence in 13 countries spanning Asia-Pacific,

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, North America, and South America. The group owns a significant network of palm oil

refineries A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries a ...

and is involved in vegetable oil refining. Additionally, it manufactures consumer goods such as soap and

cooking oil Cooking oil (also known as edible oil) is a plant or animal liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. Oil allows higher cooking temperatures than water, making cooking faster and more flavorful, while likewise distributing h ...

brands in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. The company employes 37,000 people and utilizes a logistics network that includes chemical and coastal tankers,

barges A barge is typically a flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and marine water environments. The first modern barges were pull ...

tugboats A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, such ...

, and bulk installations at major ports in

and other strategic locations worldwide. Musim Mas is a privately-owned company managed by the Karim brothers: Bachtiar Karim, Bahari Karim, and Burhan Karim. In addition to its involvement in the palm oil industry, the company has interests in real estate and owns the 4-star Mikie Holiday Resorts in

Berastagi Berastagi (), is a town and district of Karo Regency situated on a crossroads on the main route linking the Karo highlands of Northern Sumatra to the coastal city of Medan. Berastagi town is located around south of Medan and about above se ...

North Sumatra North Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan on the east coast of the island. It borders Aceh to the northwest, Riau to the sou ...

History

In 1932, Anwar Karim founded the Nam Cheong Soap Factory in

Medan Medan ( , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of North Sumatra. The nearby Strait of Malacca, Port of Belawan, and Kualanamu International Airport make Medan a regional hub and multi ...

, laying the foundation for what would later become Musim Mas. In 1970 the company commissioned its first

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

in Belawan,

. In 1972, PT Musim Mas was officially established in Tanjung Mulia, Medan. The company expanded its operations in 1988 by starting its plantation in Rantau Prapat, North Sumatra. Two years later, in 1990, Musim Mas set up its first kernel-crushing plant in Medan and in 1991, it established its first palm oil mill in Rantau Prapat. In 2002, Musim Mas set up its first subsidiary office, Inter-Continental Oil and Fats Pte. Ltd. (ICOF) in Malaysia. ICOF is a part of the Musim Mas Group and merchandises and distributes Musim Mas products. Based in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, ICOF builds "sustainable palm oil solutions" for their clients. In 2003, Musim Mas commenced operations for its

oleochemicals Oleochemistry is the study of vegetable oils and animal oils and fats, and oleochemicals derived from these fats and oils. The resulting product can be called oleochemicals (from Latin: oleum "olive oil"). The major product of this industry is soap ...

plant located in the Medan Industrial Area II (KIM II). The following year, Musim Mas was the first company in

to achieve

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was established in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable palm oil products through global standards and multistakeholder governance. The seat of the association is ...

(RSPO) certification. The company's Executive Chairman has also served on RSPO's inaugural executive board. The company opened its first office in Europe in 2007 and in the United States of America in 2008. In 2009, PT Musim Mas achieved RSPO certification, becoming the first palm oil plantation in Indonesia to receive this recognition. Additionally, the company initiated operations in Nellore, India, and Dongguan, China. By 2012, the company obtained RSPO certification for all of its plantations in Indonesia. In 2013, Musim Mas opened its first office in Vietnam and became the first company to achieve the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification. Additionally, wholly owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

MasChem BV announced plans for an

ethoxylation In organic chemistry, ethoxylation is a chemical reaction in which ethylene oxide () adds to a substrate. It is the most widely practiced alkoxylation, which involves the addition of epoxides to substrates. In the usual application, alcoh ...

facility at the Dow

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

site in

Terneuzen Terneuzen () is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands, in the province of Zeeland, in the middle of Zeelandic Flanders. With almost 55,000 inhabitants, it is the most populous municipality of Zeeland. History First mentione ...

. This facilityspecializes in the production of

surfactants Surfactants are chemical compounds that decrease the surface tension or interfacial tension between two liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid. The word ''surfactant'' is a blend of "surface-active agent", coined in 1950. As t ...

, which are surface active agents derived from

alcohols In chemistry, an alcohol (), is a type of organic compound that carries at least one hydroxyl () functional group bound to a Saturated and unsaturated compounds, saturated carbon atom. Alcohols range from the simple, like methanol and ethanol ...

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturat ...

esters In chemistry, an ester is a chemical compound, compound derived from an acid (either organic or inorganic) in which the hydrogen atom (H) of at least one acidic hydroxyl group () of that acid is replaced by an organyl group (R). These compounds c ...

fatty acids In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, ...

, and

amines In chemistry, amines (, ) are organic compounds that contain carbon-nitrogen bonds. Amines are formed when one or more hydrogen atoms in ammonia are replaced by alkyl or aryl groups. The nitrogen atom in an amine possesses a lone pair of elec ...

and serve as essential raw materials in the manufacturing of

personal care Personal care products are consumer products which are applied on various external parts of the body such as skin, hair, nails, lips, external genital and anal areas, as well as teeth and mucous membrane of the oral cavity, in order to make ...

products and detergents. In 2014, the company inaugurated three biodiesel plants in Europe and its first refinery in Tanjung Langsat, Malaysia. Musim Mas joined the Fire Free Alliance (FFA) in 2016 and acquired a glycerin refinery in Groningen, The Netherlands. In 2017, the company established a joint venture with Genting Plantations to set up a refinery in Lahad Datu, Malaysia, and acquired a sulfation plant in Barbastro, Spain. By 2019, Musim Mas became the first company in Southeast Asia to attain POIG (Palm Oil Innovation Group) verification and the first mill to be certified with RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) P&C (Principles and Criteria) 2018. Additionally, the company launched the Novel IDEAS Center, a S$10 million R&D and Innovation facility located in the

Singapore Science Park Singapore Science Park is a research, development and technologies hub in Queenstown, Singapore. Managed by Ascendas, a subsidiary of Capitaland, it was set up under a government initiative in 1980 to provide the necessary infrastructure for lo ...

, as part of its strategic expansion and innovation goals.

Products

Musim Mas offers a wide range of products including

biodiesel Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel, a form of diesel fuel, derived from biological sources like vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made from fats. The roots of bi ...

, bleaching earth, bypass fats/rumen bypass fats,

commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. Th ...

, cooking oils, emulsifier-stabilizer blends,

emulsifiers An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Although ...

, fatty acids, fatty alcohols, household products, margarine/shortening, medium-chain triglycerides, palm wax, refined

glycerine Glycerol () is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, sweet-tasting, viscous liquid. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known as glycerides. It is also widely used as a sweetener in the food industry and as a humectant in ...

, soap/skin care/hygiene products, soap noodles, specialty application oils, specialty fats,

, and

vitamin E Vitamin E is a group of eight compounds related in molecular structure that includes four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. The tocopherols function as fat-soluble antioxidants which may help protect cell membranes from reactive oxygen speci ...

. In 2021, Musim Mas was ranked 9th on FoodTalks' Global Top 30 Specialty Oil Companies list. The company offers more than 70 proprietary brands that are distributed globally. Their product portfolio includes cooking oils, margarines, and soaps. Among their well-known brands are Lervia, Medicare, and Harmony soaps, Sunco cooking oil, and Surya Gold, Margareta, and Rajni Gold. Additionally, the company has launched a new subsidiary called Kevolve Dr MCT, which specializes in selling premium MCT oil products.

Sustainability

In 2014, Musim Mas introduced a new sustainability policy, affirming its commitment to producing deforestation-free palm oil. The company takes measures to mitigate its greenhouse gas emissions by capturing and converting

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...

gas into energy to power their mills and estates. According to the company, all of Musim Mas' mills are equipped with methane capture facilities, known as biogas plants. In 2021, Musim Mas announced a partnership with AAK and

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

to address deforestation outside of plantation concession areas in

Aceh Aceh ( , ; , Jawi script, Jawoë: ; Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, Old Spelling: ''Atjeh'') is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the northern end of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capit ...

, Indonesia. The partnership aims to engage approximately 1,000 independent oil palm smallholders within two years, enrolling them in Muslim Mas' smallholders program supported by a Smallholders Hub.

Awards

Musim Mas received the "Indonesian Best Exporter Award (Primaniyarta Award)" in 1992.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Palm oil companies of Indonesia Palm oil companies Palm oil companies of Malaysia Singaporean brands Agriculture companies established in 1932