Cargill’s inaugurated cocoa processing facility in Indonesia

A new Cargill’s cocoa processing facility has been inaugurated Gresik, Indonesia, with a 70,000-metric-ton processing capacity.

Food and beverage manufacturers seeking to meet the growing demand amongst Asian consumers for chocolate and cocoa products will benefit from a greater availability of high quality cocoa powders.

Creating over 300 new jobs, the USD 100 million facility will produce Cargill’s premium brand Gerkens cocoa powders, as well as high quality cocoa liquor and butter.
Its blending capability will leverage the company’s broad and in-depth cocoa knowledge to enable customers to benefit from superior, consistent and tailor-made solutions that meet Asian consumers’ taste profiles.

The state-of-the-art facility in the East Java region was officially opened in the presence of Indonesian Minister of Industry Mr. Saleh Husin and David MacLennan, Cargill’s president and chief executive officer. The ceremony also was attended by Jos de Loor, president of Cargill’s cocoa & chocolate business in Europe Middle-East, Africa and Asia, local dignitaries and customers.

“Our customers expect us to keep innovating and adding value to their products, and this investment focuses on delivering for their success,” said Jos de Loor.

The cocoa beans processed at the Gresik plant will be supplied primarily from Sulawesi, where cocoa farming is the principal income for hundreds of thousands of families and where Cargill has been sourcing cocoa since 1995.
The company is strengthening activities to support sustainable cocoa production in Indonesia as part of the Cargill Cocoa Promise.

Cargill plans to train 4,500 cocoa farmers in newly created Farmer Field Schools in the Bone and Soppeng regencies, and aims to enable 2,000 of them to gain independent sustainable certification. 

Photo source: Cargill

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