Anwar Kanaan Company was established in Nablus, Palestine in 1952 as a leading
olive oil soap manufacturer in Palestine
Anwar Kanaan’s first product was the traditional olive oil Nabulsi bar soap, which is
famous in Nablus since the 14th century. Anwar Kanaan soap factory is one of the most
famous Nabulsi soap factories remained in Nablus since then
The history of Anwar Kanaan Co. since 1952 can be summarized as follows:
In 1952 the traditional soap factory was established to produce kernel olive oil green
soap
In 1959 a toilet bar soap line was introduced to produce pure olive oil bar soap with
modern shapes (difficulties encountered since the titer of olive oil is different from the
titer of fats and other oils usually used to produce toilet bar soap. Instead, a part of this
line was used to produce “powders and flakes” soap for delicate fabrics wash)
In 1963, a new soap factory was built to address the increased demand on this product
In 1969, an olive oil kernel extraction plant was established to produce oil for the soap
factory
In 1980, improvements on the kernel drying, bleaching, evaporation and solvent
extraction system were made and steam boiling was added to the soap manufacturing
process
In 1998, difficulties encountered and the kernel oil extraction plant was closed as the
solvents required for the process became very hard to obtain in our area
In 2000, a research on the burnt and extracted olive kernel was conducted in
cooperation with An-Najah National University to study the feasibility of olive kernel
transformation to activated carbon
In 2004, a pure olive oil liquid soap was developed and a new line was introduced to the
factory for this product
In 2014 a family of olive oil based skin care products were developed and lines were
added to the factory for expansion through out the world