In 1977 a leading Thai castor seed exporter together with the biggest and oldest castor seed crusher in Europe, Alberdingk Boley GmbH, established a company called Thai Castor Oil Industries Co., Ltd. to crush castor seed in Thailand. The Company was created as a Thai-German joint venture with equity participation and financial support from both the Thai and German industrial development institutions. The main German partner whose experience in castor oil production stretched back more than half a century, provided the technical know-how with emphasis on quality oil production.