Cargill,Minneapolis, MN, has broken ground on a U.S. $100 million investment to construct a state-of-the-art cocoa processing facility in Gresik, in the East-Java region of Indonesia. Cargill stated that the new facility is to meet the growing demand amongst customers for cocoa products and to encourage the development of the Asian cocoa sector. 
                                                                                                             
The new facility will be Cargill’s first cocoa processing plant in Asia and demonstrates the company’s commitment to develop and grow the Asian cocoa industry. The investment will also strengthen the company’s Indonesian cocoa sourcing network and cocoa sustainability activities.
 
Cargill will create approximately 200 new jobs in Indonesia, as well as additional positions in its existing R&D application centers in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, and in the company’s commercial network, which it is strengthening to better serve the needs of customers in Asia.
  
This facility, which is expected to be operational by mid-2014, will process approximately 70,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans into a broad range of tailored products for customers in the Asian market. These products will include high quality cocoa liquor and butter, as well as Cargill’s premium quality Gerkens cocoa powders.
 
“We are excited to be taking this step to strengthen our cocoa operations on the ground in Indonesia. We have seen a significant growth in demand for cocoa products amongst our customers across the region. This investment will enable us to support the growth of the local cocoa sector, process local Indonesian beans and provide high-quality cocoa products to serve the growing needs of our customers in Asia,” said Jos de Loor, president, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate.
  
The new facility and expanded sourcing operations in Indonesia will complement Cargill’s global network of cocoa sourcing and processing facilities located in Western Europe, Vietnam, Cameroon, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Brazil and the USA.