Volac Wilmar Feed Ingredients is a new global company jointly owned by Volac and Wilmar International Limited.

Increasing the level of fat in animal diets can be done by using liquid sources of fat, such as fish or vegetable oils.

In the case of ruminant animals these liquid fat forms can cause problems in the rumen, particularly with feed digestibility, thereby reducing animal performance.

Dry feed fats typically pass through the rumen for digestion in the small intestine and not in the rumen. This is why they are also called "rumen-protected" or "bypass" fats.

By supplying energy in rumen by-pass form, fats can improve animal performance and general health, leading to increased milk production and improved fertility.

There are two major types of commercially available dry feed fats:
1) calcium soaps of fatty acids
2) hardened or hydrogenated fats.

Calcium soaps can be manufactured from any fatty acids but the most common are based on palm fatty acids. They are produced by reacting fatty acids with calcium to produce a rumen-insoluble fat-source that passes unchanged through the rumen to the small intestine for digestion.

Gresik - Meeting global demand for Megalac®

VWFI have constructed a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for feed fat production in Gresik, Indonesia. It represents a significant investment in the Megalac® brand and increasing capability to meet global demand for the leading rumen-protected fat.

Gresik enhances VWFI's global reach and its location in Southeast Asia means raw materials can be easily accessed. With the ongoing uncertainty of Brexit and the potential impact on European markets, Gresik will not only provide continuity of supply for VWFI's high-quality products, but also facilitate the development and supply of new markets for the feed fat business.

Construction of the 10,000 square metre facility began in January 2018 and the first batch of Megalac® was produced on 23 December 2018. In February 2019 the first shipments of finished product were made to customers in North America and Europe.

The newly-formed Gresik team is headed by Tulus Hutagalung and supported by experienced colleagues from Pasir Gudang and Liverpool. Factory operators have been trained at VWFI's Malaysian factory and there is great confidence that the team will be able to run Gresik at full capacity very soon.