Emerald Oil opens branch in Japan to boost export

Emerald Oil, one of the early entrants in the domestic rice bran oil market, has established a new branch in Japan last month as part of its plan to export its product to the island nation.

The new branch was established in Japan's Tokyo on September 20 this year, the company said today in a disclosure posted on the website of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

However, the share price of Emerald Oil Industries dropped 0.54 per cent to Tk 36.8 at the DSE today.

"We went for the new office as we believe a branch in an export destination would make processing of export goods easier," Sadia Afrin, company secretary of Emerald Oil, told The Daily Star.

Established in 2008, Emerald Oil launched its rice bran oil brand "Spondon" in 2011.

It raised Tk 20 crore from the public to pay off loans and meet working capital needs in 2014.

It went out of production in 2017 leaving general investors with shares.

Last year, Minori Bangladesh, a subsidiary of Japanese farming company Minori Co Limited, invested in Emerald Oil by taking 30 per cent stakes of it.

In its full-fledged commercial operation, the company can produce 48 tonnes of rice bran oil and 282 tonnes of de-oiled rice bran annually.