Expansion

Barry Callebaut cements Asia Pacific investment with new India factory

24-Jul-2019 - Last updated on 24-Jul-2019 at 14:51 GMT

The India facility, combined with another new facility in Indonesia, will support a booming interest for chocolate across Southeast Asia. Pic: Barry Callebaut

Expected to open in mid-2020, the supplier broke ground this week on the Baramati facility, which will produce 30k tons of chocolate and compound annually.

Located about 250km southeast of Mumbai, the 20k-square-meter factory will feature modern assembly lines equipped for several delivery formats, employing more than 100 people mostly in engineering and production roles. It will serve international food manufacturers, local confectioneries and semi-industrial bakers and patisseries.

An R&D lab will complement Barry Callebaut’s Chocolate Academy Center in Mumbai – in an effort ‘to create innovative chocolate for local consumers.’ The company moved its local team into a bigger office this week.

In its continued Asian expansion, Barry Callebaut is also in the midst of building a factory in Rancaekek, Indonesia.

The supplier already employs more than 1,800 employees across Asia Pacific – notably in China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. Since last summer, Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines have also gained sales teams.

Emerging interest

Investment in India is a direct result of the country’s ‘rapidly developing demand for high-quality chocolate.’

According to Nielsen, sales of chocolate jumped by a CAGR of more than 6% in the past five years, and experts expect the market will continue to flourish.

Barry Callebaut recently launched its ruby chocolate there, as well as a locally-produced version of its Van Houten Professional line.

“India is an exciting market where innovation in chocolate is well received by consumers,” said Dhruva Jyoti Sanyal, managing director for Barry Callebaut India, noting a rise in domestic chocolate production more broadly.

“Our confidence in the future development of the chocolate market in India, together with the desire to better serve our customers in India, has prompted the expansion of our footprint and services.”

The Baramati factory will be one of the supplier’s biggest locations in Asia, according to Ben De Schryver, president of Barry Callebaut Asia Pacific.

“It will enable us to meet customers’ growing demands for high-quality chocolate in India,” he said. “We are proud to deepen our presence here and to continue to invest in a country that has been so welcoming to us for more than a decade.”

He added that the expansion will support volume growth and the company’s ambition to lead the industry in India.