Chupa Chups facility relocated as Asia-Pacific demand grows
The firm is to close its Villamayor production site, which employs 121 staff, and is set to move to a new facility in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, north-west of Barcelona.
A spokesperson for Perfetti van Melle told ConfectionaryNews.com that the company were unable to divulge further details at this stage, but said “the process is expected to be closed by September”.
Asia-Pacific expansion
Reports of a growing market demand for the firm’s lollipop brand in Asia-Pacific emerged late last month when Wouter Heijmann, area manager global travel retail at Perfetti van Melle, told The Moodie Report: “This year the company has already achieved a +49 per cent upswing in total sales, with the Asian market outstripping this growth at +62 per cent.”
The article noted that the confectionery firm’s Asia-Pacific distributors, Focus Network Agencies, are also tapping into major markets in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines and plan to target Korea and Taiwan following the opening of new accounts in these regions.
Less than 10 per cent of the firm’s turnover is currently generated in Asia, said Heijmann. However, with the new openings, “our real growth in Asia will come in the fourth quarter of this year or next year."
Market analysts note that developing regions such as Asia and Latin America are seeing the greatest growth potential in the global confectionery market as preferences for confectionery and lollipops flavours and types does not always exist in those geographies as compared to the US and European markets.
