Emerald oil sets up sales office in Japan

Emerald Oil Industries Limited – the producer of the almost forgotten "Spondon" rice bran oil – has recently set up a sales centre in Japan in a bid to open an avenue for exporting the cooking item.

As Japan has a good demand for healthy cooking oil, the company is hopeful that it can grab a slice of the large market, its top official has said.

"Rice bran oil is in high demand in Japan. Several big companies of the country have already approached us," Md Afzal Hossain, managing director of Emerald Oil Industries, told The Business Standard.

"Our oil is currently being sold in the local market. We are yet to start exporting. There are some complications. We will start the export after settling those," he said, adding that they are struggling to run the rice-bran oil factory round the clock thanks to the ongoing gas crunch.

The top official further added that they are now using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to keep the production lines running.

The publicly listed company had resumed its production after a hiatus of four years thanks to fresh investment by Minori Bangladesh Limited, a subsidiary of Japanese farming company Minori Co Limited.

After a successful trial run in January this year, the company re-started full-fledged commercial production.

Incorporated in 2008, Emerald oil began initial production of "Spondon" rice bran oil in 2011 and entered the bourses in 2014.

It raised Tk20 crore by issuing two crores of general shares at a face value of Tk10. But in a few years, it melted down both in its business and in the stock market as soon as the founder's loan scams unfolded.

Emerald oil generated a profit of Tk18.07 crore in FY2015-16 and paid a 10% stock dividend to its shareholders.

According to the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) data, the share price of the company was Tk36.80 each on Tuesday. Since the company entered into full-fledged production, its share price rose the highest Tk45.5 on 26 June.