Malaysian deputy prime minister Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak officiated at the ground-breaking ceremony of Mission Biotechnologies Sdn Bhd"s ( Mission Biotechnologies)

RM100 million biodiesel and glycerine purification refinery earlier this month.

Located at Kuantan Port , a major oleo-chemical handling port in Pahang , Malaysia , the refinery will use crude palm oil (CPO) as its primary feedstock.

Mission Biotechnologies chairman Tan Sri Razak Ramli says the refinery is expected to produce 100,000 tonnes of biodiesel a year using crude palm oil as its primary feedstock and has already secured the feedstock at a low cost relative to European producers.

"Mission Biotechnologies has also secured a five-year agreement with a European trading house for the sale of as much as 250,000 tonnes a year of biodiesel."

Malaysia is the world's largest producer of palm oil. Crude palm oil (CPO) and other key raw materials necessary for the production of biodiesel including methanol are readily available at Kuantan Port.

All these advantages provide significant growth opportunities for Mission Biotechnologies.

Tan Sri Razak Ramli also cited other benefits including lower labour costs, lower land costs and lower utility costs in Malaysia compared with biodiesel producers located in Europe and Australia .

Mission Biotechnologies' biodiesel and glycerine purification refinery is designed to meet current and immediate future needs and, depending on the market, will provide the company with room for growth and expansion over the next five years and beyond. The company has a 22-year sublease and has exercised an option to sublease a further 24,000 sqm site adjacent to the existing site at Kuantan Port.

Construction work on the project is under way and the refinery will be commissioned within 60 weeks. "If all goes well, we should be in commercial production in June 2007, three months ahead of schedule," says Tan Sri Razak.

Mission Biotechnologies Sdn Bhd (Mission Biotechnologies) is a private limited company incorporated in Malaysia in July last year. Mission Biotechnologies Sdn Bhd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mission Biofuels Ltd, an Australian company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange