FDBusiness.com

Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business has broken ground on a $48 million (€35 million) investment to double the capacity of its Belgian chocolate production facility in Mouscron over the next two years. The additional capacity will meet growing demand for chocolate in confectionary, bakery, dairy and artisanal applications from European customers.

Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business provides its customers with a large variety of Belgian chocolates, including custom made recipes and chocolate of sustainable origin. The investment will increase capacity of both liquid dark or milk chocolate and solid chocolate drops and chunks. The new facility will source raw materials like cocoa butter from Cargill’s integrated cocoa processing plants in The Netherlands and in France.

“With this investment, Cargill demonstrates its commitment to providing our customers with a broader and more bespoke service and enlarged range of chocolate recipes to meet their individual needs,” says Jos de Loor, president of Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate. “The extension of our state-of-the-art facility inMouscronalong with our food ingredient expertise will support our cocoa and chocolate growth strategy.”

The new production lines will be operational in summer 2014 and will lead to the creation of approximately new 40 jobs over the next two years.

Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate facilities inBelgiumare part of its wider cocoa and chocolate network in Western Europe, Africa, Brazil, Canada and the United States. Cargill has been supplying quality cocoa and chocolate products to customers around the world in the chocolate, confectionery and food industry for over 50 years.