POME Oil, Palm Acid Oil & HACPO

Palm residue oils bought on FFA, contaminants and sustainability paperwork

Crude palm oil and the residue grades that come out of the same mill are two different cargoes on two different sheets, and the mistake buyers make is treating the second as a cheap version of the first. Crude palm oil (HS 1511.10) is bought on free fatty acid (≤ 5% as palmitic for a standard PORAM contract, with allowances above), moisture and impurities (≤ 0.25% combined), iodine value (50–55 g I₂/100 g), a DOBI of 2.3 or better as the measure of oxidative freshness, and for hydrotreating buyers a contaminant line for phosphorus, metals and chlorides. It is priced off the Bursa Malaysia FCPO futures contract, with Indonesian cargoes at a basis to it, and refiners turn it into the RBD palm olein and stearin that are covered elsewhere on this site. The residue grades are what the mill and the refinery could not sell as oil. POME oil is recovered from the effluent ponds and belt presses of a palm mill and runs 20–80% FFA, with moisture and impurities of 1–5%, unsaponifiables of 2–5% and a high total-contaminant load; palm acid oil (PAO) is the soapstock from a refinery's chemical neutralisation, acidulated back to 50–80% FFA; and high-acid CPO (HACPO) is crude oil that has degraded past 10–20% FFA through delayed processing or long storage. None of them are edible, and none of them is a waste or residue by name alone: POME oil is separately policed and has to be proven to come from the mill's effluent rather than from diverted crude, and palm acid oil and high-acid CPO are not listed in Annex IX of the EU Renewable Energy Directive. What a European or Singapore HVO producer pays for is a classification its own regulator accepts, proven by an ISCC EU certificate and a proof of sustainability that trace the tonne from origin through every trader — and several European buyers now exclude palm-derived feedstock altogether; TotalEnergies has processed no palm oil at La Mède since 1 January 2023. The 2025 export declarations under HS 1511 put Malaysia at 13.67 million MT at an average USD 1,088/MT, and Indonesia's own 2025 declarations under HS 1511.10 show where the crude grade goes: 2.96 million MT across 17 partners, India 2.76 million MT (93%) at USD 1,037/MT, Spain 58,200 MT at USD 1,106, the Netherlands 52,600 MT at USD 1,158, Germany 28,000 MT at USD 1,074 and Italy 26,100 MT at USD 1,181; the European lines are refinery and hydrotreater feed, the Indian line is the crude-for-refining trade. Under HS 3823, the heading Indonesia and Malaysia declare much of their acid-oil and PFAD output against, the two report 5.77 million MT and 3.22 million MT respectively.

The buyer of CPO is a refinery in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Kenya or Europe, or a hydrotreater taking certified crude; the buyer of POME oil, PAO and HACPO is an HVO or biodiesel plant in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Finland or Singapore, where the buyer's own palm policy has to be checked before any parcel is offered. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers crude palm oil and the residue grades from Indonesian and Malaysian mills, refiners and trader positions against SGS or Intertek certification of FFA, moisture and impurities, iodine value, DOBI, unsaponifiables and, for hydrotreating buyers, phosphorus, metals and chlorides, with an ISCC EU or ISCC PLUS certificate and proof of sustainability and the waste/residue classification stated on it where the buyer's scheme requires it. Parcels move as heated liquid bulk in 2,000–15,000 MT chemical and product-tanker parcels out of Dumai, Belawan, Kuantan and Pasir Gudang, in flexitanks (20–22 MT per container) and in heated ISO tanks, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms; because CBIL also runs a chartering desk (LaycanDesk) that works product and chemical tankers, the freight leg is quoted with the cargo. Send your grade, FFA band, contaminant ceilings and the sustainability scheme you certify under and we will work the mill to it.

See also: Edible crude palm oil (CPO) for refineries

Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices chemical and vegetable oil tanker chartering on LaycanDesk.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.