Thursday's annual general meeting of Côte d'Ivoire-focused crude palm oil producer DekelOil (LON:DKL) promises to be an upbeat affair after a year of “fantastic progress”.
Chief executive officer Youval Rasin is set to cheer shareholders with a recap of the advances made at the company's 51%-owned vertically integrated palm oil project at Ayenouan.
“Production for the first six months of 2015 was 21,836 tonnes of crude palm oil ('CPO'), an impressive 53% increase on the total production figure for the first nine months of operation,” said Rasin's statement, released ahead of the annual general meeting (AGM).
Rasin promises further initiatives to increase the profitability of Ayenouan in the current year and beyond, the first of which is to augment the existing feedstock currently being delivered to the mill by local farmers with fresh fruit bunches (FFB) from the company's own plantations.
The company has planted 1,900 hectares to date, and the estates have recently begun to mature; using the company's own FFBs will enhance margins.
The company also expects to have its kernel crushing plant up and running by the fourth quarter of this year, which will allow DekelOil to sell palm kernel oil and animal feed to the local market at the factory gate.
"DekelOil's vision is to become one of West Africa's largest CPO producers. With this in mind, we will shortly be turning our attention to the 24,000 hectares located at our second project area at Guitry,” Rasin revealed.