Producer
IOI Corporation Berhad
IOI Corporation Berhad (Bursa Malaysia: IOICORP; Tan Sri Lee family controlling shareholder; ~$5B revenue) is Malaysia's second-largest palm oil and oleochemical company. IOI's Oleo-Oleochemical division (trading as IOI Oleo) operates the Bukit Raja Industrial Park facility in Klang (Selangor) and Pasir Gudang (Johor) as primary C12/C14 fatty acid production sites. IOI also operates IOI Oleo GmbH in Witten, Germany — a European oleochemical plant that processes Malaysian-origin PKO-derived feedstocks into fatty acids and specialty esters for European personal care customers. IOI's fatty acids serve as inputs to surfactant production, soap noodle manufacturing, and cosmetic emulsifier synthesis. IOI was suspended by the RSPO in 2016 for failing to prevent deforestation; reinstated 2017 after remediation. US CBP issued a Withhold Release Order against IOI Pelita Plantations (a subsidiary) in 2022 for forced labor indicators — directly affecting IOI's palmitic and lauric oleochemical export chains into the US. Estimated global C12/C14 fatty acid market share: ~12-15%.
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Inputs supplied
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Goods downstream
3
Facilities
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Stories
What they make
2 inputs IOI Corporation Berhad supplies
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Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something IOI Corporation Berhad makes — pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
3 facilities
IOI Oleo Bukit Raja Industrial Park (Klang, Selangor) →
MYSelangor · chemical-plant
IOI Oleo's Bukit Raja Industrial Park facility in Klang, Selangor is a major oleochemical production complex producing fatty acids, fatty alcohols, and specialty oleochemicals from palm kernel oil feedstock. The Klang facility is the primary Malaysian C12/C14 fatty acid production site for IOI's domestic and export supply chains. IOI's Klang complex is connected to the Port Klang (Westport/Northport) logistics infrastructure — the primary container and bulk liquid terminal for Malaysian oleochemical exports to Europe, North America, and Northeast Asia. IOI Oleo also operates a Pasir Gudang facility in Johor. Source: https://www.ioichem.com/oleochemical
IOI Oleo GmbH Witten (Germany) →
DENorth Rhine-Westphalia · chemical-plant
IOI Oleo GmbH's Witten, North Rhine-Westphalia facility is a European oleochemical processing plant that converts Malaysian-origin PKO-derived fatty acid streams into refined C12/C14 fatty acids, fatty acid derivatives, and specialty oleochemical products for European personal care and cleaning product manufacturers. IOI Witten is the primary European production point for IOI's fatty acid and ester portfolio — enabling European supply without the working capital and logistics cost of importing finished fatty acids from Malaysia. IOI acquired this facility as part of its strategy to vertically integrate into European downstream markets. The Witten facility's proximity to German and Dutch personal care ingredient customers (Beiersdorf, Henkel, Unilever EU operations) gives it a logistics advantage over Asian suppliers. Source: https://www.ioichem.com/oleochemical/europe
Peninsular Malaysia Palm Belt (Johor, Pahang) →
MYJohor, Pahang, Perak — Peninsular Malaysia · region
Peninsular Malaysia's southern states — Johor, Pahang, Perak — contain Malaysia's oldest and most mature oil palm estates. Johor state was the birthplace of Malaysian oil palm cultivation (first commercial plantings 1917). Planted area in Peninsular Malaysia approximately 1.6 million hectares, with average palm age older than Sabah/Sarawak plantations. Older palms produce lower FFB yields, making Peninsular Malaysia plantations economically marginal; significant replanting is ongoing. Key companies in Peninsular Malaysia: IOI Corporation (Lahad Datu → Peninsular estates), KLK, FGV/FELDA settler schemes. The concentration of FELDA settler land in Peninsular Malaysia (approximately 850,000 hectares across 317 FELDA schemes) means that 112,000 smallholder families and their land tenure security is embedded in this region's output. Source: MPOB Annual Statistics 2023.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Oil Palm Plantation & Milling
40%Oleochemicals (IOI Oleo)
35%Specialty Fats
20%Property
5%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2024
IOI's specialty fats division (IOI Oleo) produces cocoa butter substitutes (CBS) and cocoa butter replacers (CBR) — the palm oil-derived fats used in "compound chocolate" and "chocolate-flavored coatings" on confectionery, ice cream, and baked goods. Genuine chocolate requires cocoa butter (expensive, from Ivory Coast, Ghana); compound chocolate uses palm-derived CBS/CBR (cheap, from Malaysian plantations). A Malaysia/Indonesia palm supply disruption therefore simultaneously affects: edible cooking oil supply chains, surfactant/soap supply chains, industrial oleochemical supply chains, AND the global confectionery supply chain — where "chocolate-flavored coating" on most mass-market snacks depends on IOI and a handful of other specialty fat producers.
IOI Corporation ↗Incident2022
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) against IOI Pelita Plantations Sdn Bhd — a subsidiary of IOI Corporation Berhad — in January 2022, blocking imports of palm oil and its derivatives (including fatty acids and fatty alcohols) produced by IOI Pelita from entering the United States. The WRO was based on CBP's finding of reasonable indicators of forced labor in IOI Pelita's plantation operations in Sarawak, Malaysia, consistent with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act framework applied to palm oil. IOI Pelita's WRO directly affected US buyers of IOI-sourced C12/C14 fatty acids, requiring them to either certify supply chain segregation (proving that oleochemical products did not contain IOI Pelita-origin PKO) or switch to alternative suppliers. The IOI WRO — combined with earlier WROs against Sime Darby Plantation (February 2021) and FGV Holdings (September 2020) — means that three of Malaysia's largest palm oil companies have simultaneously faced US forced labor trade barriers. Together these WRO-affected companies represent a significant fraction of Malaysian PKO supply.
US Customs and Border Protection ↗Origin2023
IOI Group was founded by Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng (1940-2019), who started in pineapple canning before pivoting to oil palm in the 1970s as Malaysia's government-backed New Economic Policy created incentives for bumiputera and Chinese-owned plantation development. Lee built IOI from a small plantation company into Malaysia's second-largest palm oil conglomerate by integrating downstream into refining, oleochemicals, and specialty fats — adding value far above commodity palm oil. The group is now controlled by Lee's son Lee Yeow Chor and remains Malaysia's only palm oil group with a significant specialty fats business competing globally against the likes of AAK and Bunge Loders.
IOI Corporation Berhad ↗