As well as cocoa, Cargill will now also produce compound and industrial chocolate for the Latin American food industry, the company said. "Forecasts point to considerable growth in compound chocolate sales because of rising purchasing power of lower-income Brazilians," added Gerson Crisci, Cargill's chocolate and compound manager. The company invested $5m in the plant, which, it claims, now has a capacity of 10,000 tonnes per year. As well as cocoa liquor, powder, and butter, the company said it will also make industrial chocolate, sold in buckets, 25 kg bags, 2 kg bags and drops, to for confectioners in Latin America. Ingredients needed to manufacturer the chocolate that are not made in the Sao Paulo plant - vegetable fats, flavourings and sugars - will come from other Cargill factories, the company said. Latin American chocolate markets are some of the most dynamic globally, and figures from the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) show that Brazil is the eighth largest cocoa consumer in the world, after the US, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Japan and Russia. Domestic consumption rose to 312 tonnes in 2003, a 4.6 per cent increase from 298 tonnes in 2002, the ICCO said. Ingredients company Cargill claims to be Latin America's largest cocoa provider, with factories in 18 Brazilian states. Operations in the country also export cocoa products to Europe, Japan and the US.
