Palm oil production reached 37,117 tonnes in December 2018, an increase of 39.9 percent compared with 2017, the Gabonese Ministry of Economy said in a report copied to APA on Thursday.
This performance is due to the exploitation of the Kango plantations in the Libreville and Mouila region in the south of the country. Plantations in these two localities harvested 161,134 palm trees in 2018 compared to 120,719 a year earlier, the report noted.
In addition, oil production from palm nut crushing rose from 1,718 tonnes in 2017 to 4,304 tonnes in 2018, an increase of 150.5 percent.
At the same time, the production of refined oil (olein), soap and stearin amounted to 12,066 tonnes (+18 percent), 5,697 tonnes (+29.9 percent) and 5,653 tonnes (+13.8 percent) respectively. The strengthening of the production facilities and the regular supply of raw palm oil to the plant are at the root of this performance.
On the commercial level, local sales amounted to 25,926 tonnes and exports to 15,993 tons, generating a very strong increase in turnover of 21.7 billion CFA francs.
PIM/cat/lb/abj/APA