Leading cocoa products manufacturer Barry Callebaut Group has announced it is constructing a new chocolate and compound manufacturing facility in Baramati, India. The site is located 250km south-east of Mumbai and will include state-of-the-art assembly lines capable of manufacturing chocolate and compound in different delivery formats. The greenfield facility will cover a total of 20,000m2 and is scheduled to be operational by mid-2020. Once fully operational, it will have an annual production capacity of more than 30,000 tons of chocolate and compound, the company says.

Breaking ground in the new facility this week follows Barry Callebaut’s move of its sales operations into a new, larger office in Mumbai. In addition, the factory will also be equipped with a research and development lab.

Together with its existing Chocolate Academy Center in Mumbai, Barry Callebaut Group says it intends to advance its work with customers to co-create innovative chocolate for local consumers.

“As a global player in the chocolate industry, we are excited about India’s great growth potential. The new factory will be one of our biggest locations in Asia and it will enable us to meet customers’ growing demands for high-quality chocolate in India,” says Ben De Schryver, President of Barry Callebaut in the Asia Pacific. “We aim 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. Our expansion will support our business volume growth and ambition to become the leading industrial chocolate manufacturer in India.”

India expansion

The new manufacturing plant represents Barry Callebaut’s biggest investment in India to date This expansion of the Group’s footprint in India is tied to the country’s rapidly developing demand for high-quality chocolate. The company has built its presence in India by serving food manufacturers and established a network of nationwide distribution and channel partners over the years.

In recent months, Barry Callebaut has partnered with local chocolate manufacturers to introduce Ruby chocolate, the fourth type of chocolate after Dark, Milk and White chocolate, and also launched its locally-produced Van Houten Professional chocolate in the country.

“India is a market where innovation in chocolate is well received by consumers. We seek to bring our innovative capabilities into a market where domestic chocolate production is increasing. We have experienced double-digit growth in India over the last three years. 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,” notes Dhruva Jyoti Sanyal, Managing Director for Barry Callebaut India.

Asia Pacific reach

As far as the Asia Pacific region is concerned, Barry Callebaut is one of the largest chocolate and cocoa manufacturers. Employing more than 1,800 employees in the region, the company already operates nine other chocolate and cocoa factories in Asia, namely in China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. In the last 12 months, the company has also expanded its sales operations in Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines, in addition to its existing sales offices in India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The brand’s second chocolate factory in Indonesia is currently being built in Rancaekek.

Staying on its expansive tract Barry Callebaut will also open a new 60,000+ m² global distribution center (GDC), in Belgium, in the third quarter of 2021. The new logistics hub will be Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREAAM) Outstanding certified and fully energy-neutral. The facility’s location in Lokeren, Belgium, will centralize and anchor the company's activities in the country and allow for the global distribution of all chocolate produced by the company.