Barry Callebaut to Become Strategic Unilever Partner
Barry Callebaut, the cocoa and chocolate products manufacturer, and Unilever, the global market leader in ice cream, have signed a new long-term global partnership agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Barry Callebaut will become Unilever’s strategic global supplier and innovation partner of choice for its cocoa and chocolate needs.
This new global supply agreement builds on the existing long-standing working relationship and will nearly double Barry Callebaut’s current volumes with Unilever. Ultimately Barry Callebaut will provide 70% of Unilever’s global cocoa and chocolate products. This will be achieved under a wide-ranging joint business development plan involving close co-operation across the areas of innovation, sustainable sourcing, capacity expansion and value improvement. The parties agreed not to disclose any further terms of the agreement.
As a result of the agreement, Barry Callebaut will invest approximately SFr22 million (Eur18 million) in its worldwide factory network in order to prepare the capacity required to fulfill the long-term partnership agreement. The additional volumes have a ramp-up period of 12 months, starting immediately.
Barry Callebaut has already been an active partner in developing one of Unilever’s most successful ice cream brands, Magnum, including supporting the launch of this iconic brand across various regions in the last year.
