January 22, 2007

Chinese company to commercialise camphor extract as feed additive

A Chinese perfume company has hit upon a way to utilise a high-purity camphor extract to be used as a feed additive.

According to Xiamen Peony Perfume and Chemical Company's senior engineer Lin Xiangyun, the product is a fatty element found in the camphor tree. The fatty substance was originally known for its antibiotic capabilities and its ability to fight cancer, lower blood pressure and blood cholestrol. After distillation, the residue contains about one percent camphor fat.

After years of study, they found that the substance could be used as a feed additive to improve animals' appetite without the toxicity of traditional antibiotics. As the company has cultivated huge tracts of land with high-purity camphor trees, it has a head-start over the rest of the market in commercialising the product, Lin said. 

Industry observers say the discovery is significant development in light of recent government policies favoring low environmental impact poultry production.

The company has already formed a partnership with two major feed manufacturers to develop the product. Both companies have imported equipment costing a few million renminbi for the production systems. Lin said the commercialization of the product is expected at year-end. The initial phase would involve production of a few hundred tonnes, scaling up to thousands of tonnes by next year.