Barry Callebaut opens chocolate plant in Turkey; SunOpta completes Dutch cocoa site

Barry Callebaut’s $17m Turkish plant in Eskisehir will have an annual capacity of 14,000 metric tons (MT) of chocolate

Callebaut sets up shop in growing Turkish market​

Filip De Reymaeker, Barry Callebaut's President Region EEMEA, said: "Turkey ranks among the top five fastest growing chocolate confectionery markets in the world. There is significant growth potential for us here as demand for high-quality chocolate, technical services and new innovations is growing fast.”​

He added that the plant’s central location brought the company to within 400 km of the raw materials in needed to serve the factory.

Turkish chocolate consumption is still on the low side at 2 kg per capita, but the market has grown its volumes by 50% in the last five years to 125,000 (MT) and the market is forecast to grow volume at 6% per year from 2013 to 2018, according to Euromonitor International.

SunOpta’s speciality cocoa plant​

SunOpta’s new speciality cocoa plant in Middenmeer, Netherlands will process cocoa beans into cocoa liquor, butter and powder. The company had previously outsourced this type of production.

Gerard Versteegh, president of SunOpta’s International Foods Group, said: "Vertically integrating into our own dedicated cocoa facility allows us to have increased control over our business and expand our margins, especially as we increase throughput. Organic and specialty cocoa products remain a key category for the International Foods Group, and we anticipate above average growth prospects in this segment of the market."​

The factory will have an annual capacity of 9,000 MT of raw cocoa.