Cargill Breaks Ground on $100M Cocoa Plant

Cargill has broken ground on a $100 million cocoa processing plant in Indonesia that is the Minnetonka-based company’s first such plant in Asia, according to a company news release.

The plan is in Gresik, in the East-Java region of Indonesia. It will create approximately 200 new jobs in Indonesia, along with additional jobs at research and development center in Beijing and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“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,” the news release quoted Jos de Loor, president, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate.

Cargill expects the plant to be operational by mid-2014. It will process approximately 77,000 tons of cocoa beans into a variety of cocoa products—such as cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and Cargill’s Gerkens cocoa powders.

Click here to read the full release.