LIPSA

Vegetable Oil Refining

LIPSA (Lípidos Santiga, S.A.) is a Spanish company that refines and processes vegetable oils and fats. Founded in 1973 in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, Barcelona, it describes itself as the largest vegetable-oil refinery in southern Europe, processing more than 900,000 metric tons per year.

Products and Applications

The company works with more than 20 raw materials, including palm, corn, sunflower (including high-oleic), coconut, soybean, cocoa butter, rapeseed, palm kernel, shea, and cottonseed. It offers custom specialties for applications such as:

• Human food: frying and snacks, margarine, dairy, ice cream, confectionery, and baking.
• Infant nutrition: single oils, LACTALIP blends, and oils with low contaminant levels.
• Animal nutrition: calf milk replacers, pet food, bypass fats, and encapsulated products.
• Technical uses: biodiesel, emulsifiers, lubricants, oleochemicals, candles, soaps, paints and resins, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, and dielectric oils.
• Organic products: sunflower, soybean, rapeseed, palm, and coconut oils, as well as organic palm fractions.

Capacity and Specialties

LIPSA develops custom products through its research and development department and highlights its work to reduce contaminants such as 3-MCPD, GE, MOSH, and MOAH. The company says its oils meet high food-safety standards for manufacturers with demanding requirements in infant nutrition and human consumption.

Sustainability

LIPSA has been a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) since 2005 and was among the first companies to import segregated palm and palm-kernel oil. In 2025, all imported palm oil and derivatives came from suppliers with an implemented NDPE policy and a public mill list; all volumes were traceable to the extraction mill, 73% of palm oil was traceable to the plantation, and 47% of palm-kernel oil was traceable to its source.

International Presence

LIPSA sells its products on five continents and exports to more than 70 countries, including Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, India, China, Japan, and Australia. Imports come from countries such as Colombia, Argentina, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Gabon, and Côte d’Ivoire.

History and Locations

The company began operations in 1973 in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, Barcelona, where its main refinery and headquarters are located. In 2010, it opened a second refinery in Huelva. It has expanded its capacity over time: building its first continuous refinery in 1982, with a capacity of 120 metric tons per day; beginning exports of infant-nutrition blends in 1996; doubling deodorizing and bleaching capacity in 2000; and joining the RSPO and investing in a fractionation plant in 2005.

Contact

Phones: 935 443 110 and 935 743 186. Website: http://www.lipsa.es. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lipidosantiga/.