Sime Darby Oils South Africa

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Sime Darby Plantation (SDP) and currently its sole African-based downstream operation, Sime Darby Oils South Africa (SDOSA) consists of an industry-leading Gauteng refinery, located in Boksburg, bolstered by a packing facility in Springs. From these bases the specialist in fats and oils manufacturing is able to produce the full gamut of products ranging from industrial ingredients, margarines and pastry fats to shortenings and frying oils.

It is for these latter wares that this South African institution is arguably best known, explains GM Matt Ellis: “We reach the full range of manufacturers of bakery products, be they small, medium or large entities,” he opens. “We have full coverage of that sector; when it comes to frying, we are one of the leaders in the quick service restaurant (QSR) segment. The likes of Chicken Licken, Steers and Spur Steak Ranches, through to the smaller, more Mom-and-Pop type establishments all fall within our remit and are all businesses with which we have longstanding relationships.”

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

At the core of SDOSA’s ethos is the recognition that new ideas and solutions are critical to keeping its customers competitive. “Our refinery is a state-of-the-art, multicomponent and multiprocessing facility,” Ellis beams of the setup, “that processes both seed oils such as canola, sunflower and tropical oils, including palm oil and palm oil derivatives, palm kernel oil and derivatives and coconut oil.

“Having our plantations, mills and refineries in such close proximity to each other affords us immediate processing with special handling.”

Ellis reveals that Sime Darby Oils Innovation Centres exist across the globe, involved in consultation and planning from start to finish to provide technical support and product solutions to meet every need. “We help our customers in new product development right through to packaging,” he expands. “With our wide range of processes, products can be tailor made to suit our customers’ specifications and satisfaction and all are rigorously checked in order to conform to the high standards for which we have become known and respected.”

SDOSA commits to ever-improving processing technology, Ellis elaborates, with on-going recommendations for milling and refinery improvements joined by optimisation of downstream processes to improve refinery’s efficiency and product quality. “Quality is not just about now. It is also about the future. We are fully committed to a future of delivering new innovations and controls, whether analytical, technical, or operational, that will engender even greater success for our customers’ brands.”

STRIVE FOR BETTA

This spirit of continuous progress and aspiring to greater heights in quality and innovation is perfectly captured in SDOSA’s launch this year of its groundbreaking BettaFry pure vegetable oil, a further step in the constant evolution of its peerless oils, Ellis explains. “SDOSA as well as our predecessor, Hudson and Knight, would likely be extremely well-known in the industry for our Crispa Gold and Crispa Palm lines,” he details, before giving the lowdown on SDOSA’s primary launch this year, a soybean-based all-purpose pure vegetable oil, designed to tackle any and all culinary applications.

“BettaFry has been developed for a number of reasons,” Ellis explains. “The soybean crop in South Africa has been strengthening year-on-year over the past decade, which has entailed an increased availability of the raw material at the heart of this fully South African-grown and manufactured product.

“Additionally, this is a blended oil,” he says, “and while soy is definitely the primary ingredient, we have succeeded in developing a formulation whereby we have incorporated some palm oil as well, resulting in a frying oil with extraordinarily strong stability in this crucial application.

“What results are some significant benefits: one comes in the sheer quality of the fried product; as anybody in South Africa would attest, we are a nation of chip lovers, and we are very particular about the quality of those chips,” Ellis smiles. “Talk to anyone in the food service business here in South Africa and they will tell you the same thing: there are two primordial markets. One is the centre of the plate, which is dominated by steak, and the other is the side of the plate, where chips reign supreme. It follows, therefore, that to gain those consistent, repeat customers, the quality of that product has to be supreme.

“Using something like BettaFry will not only give longer life in the fryer, but also a superior quality chip that will remain crisper on the plate for longer.”

Ellis then speaks of the importance of the homegrown aspect of this latest innovation on SDOSA’s part. “We think it is a product with a huge amount of merit, for the South Africa market in particular,” he adds. “Being based on domestic soybean oil, it is, by extension, going to be fiercely cost-competitive right throughout the year. Right now, South Africa does not produce sufficient sunflower oil to meet its own needs, which means that at certain times of the year imports are necessary; in contrast, we are now completely self-sufficient in soybean oil.

“This represents a wholesale change in the dynamic of the vegetable oil market, and we have developed BettaFry to capitalise on this change.”

Ellis is in no doubt as to BettaFry’s ability to become a mainstay within the market, he concludes. “It is the result of a massive amount of development and testing work,” he states. “While it is still early days, and people are familiar with Crispa and the performance and quality those products provide, by introducing something like BettaFry we are confident that we can both allow, and convince, the market to make that key transition and embrace the power of a soy-based frying oil.”