The Barry Callebaut Group has announced that it has started manufacturing at its second chocolate manufacturing plant in Rancaekek, a sub-district of Bandung, Indonesia. The brand new factory follows Barry Callebaut’s “plant in plant” concept, where the Group integrates new production facilities at the premises of its customer's factories, in this case Garudafood’s Rancaekek biscuit factory.

The announcement was made at the official opening of the factory which was attended by Ridwan Kamil, governor of West Java, Ben De Schryver, President of Barry Callebaut Asia Pacific, and Hardianto Atmadja, CEO of PT Garudafood Putra Putri Jaya Tbk.

Barry Callebaut’s newest factory in Asia is the result of the signing in November 2018 of an additional long-term supply agreement for chocolate and compound to Garudafood, one of the largest food and beverage companies in Indonesia.

The “plant-in-plant," in Garudafood’s Rancaekek biscuit factory, constitutes an investment of CHF 2.8 million (IDR 40 billion). Barry Callebaut’s first chocolate factory, opened in October 2016, is located in Gresik – 800 km east of Jakarta.

"Our second chocolate factory in Indonesia underlines our commitment to this country. Barry Callebaut will continue to invest in the development of our manufacturing capabilities and continue to offer new products with our customers such as Garudafood. We are excited by our long-standing relationship with Garudafood and the potential of the confectionery market in Indonesia," says Ben De Schryver, president, Barry Callebaut Asia Pacific.

Both Barry Callebaut and Garudafood have been collaborating on innovation activities and plan to develop new products that will cater to the growing Indonesian chocolate market. According to Euromonitor, the annual chocolate consumption per capita in Indonesia is just around 300 grams, while the demand for chocolate has been on the rise – as sales volume of chocolate confectionery grew +3.4 percent in 2018 (+1.4 percent CAGR 2013-2018)¹.

In addition to the new chocolate factory in Rancaekek, Barry Callebaut has another chocolate factory in Gresik, near Surabaya, and two cocoa factories located in Bandung and Makassar. The company currently has more than 550 employees across Indonesia, namely in Bandung, Gresik, Jakarta, Lampung and Makassar. It is also committed to expanding its sustainability activities for cocoa farmers in Indonesia through its Forever Chocolate program.

Barry Callebaut is one of the largest chocolate and cocoa manufacturers in Asia Pacific. 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. It recently announced the groundbreaking of a new chocolate factory in India which is expected to be ready in mid-2020.

¹ Source: Chocolate Confectionery in Indonesia, Euromonitor (August 2018)