The company started the construction of a new cocoa processing facility at Gresik in the East Java region, Indonesia, in May 2013. The new cocoa processing facility is expected to be completed by mid-2014. It will meet the growing demand for cocoa products in the Asian markets. The new facility will be their first cocoa facility in Asia. It is expected to create about 200 new jobs in Indonesia. It will also create additional jobs in R&D application centres in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.
Details of the cocoa processing facility
The new facility in Gresik, East Java, will have the capacity to process about 70,000t of cocoa beans into different varieties of products for customers in the Asian market. The facility will complement company's global network of cocoa sourcing and processing facilities which are located across Western Europe, Vietnam, Cameroon, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Brazil and the US. The project will enable them to increase long-term sustainable cocoa production globally. It will also expand the company's sourcing operations in the Indonesian region, thus providing bigger market opportunities for small cocoa farmers, as smallholder farmers produce the vast majority of cocoa beans in Indonesia. The facility will have state-of-the-art technology for processing cocoa beans.
Construction of the cocoa processing plant
The new cocoa processing facility in Indonesia is scheduled to become operational in mid-2014. The expected investment in the construction of the facility is about $100m.
Products from the new Indonesian cocoa plant
The cocoa product portfolio at the new facility will include cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and cocoa powder, which will be sold under the brand name Gerkens Cacao. The cocoa liquor and butter products will be supplied to the chocolate industry and cocoa powder will be supplied to dairy, confectionery, bakery and ice cream producers.
Cocoa sourcing for the plants
Cocoa trees require a tropical climate to grow and to produce cocoa beans. The beans are predominantly grown in West African countries such as Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. Other countries which supply cocoa beans include Indonesia and Brazil. Indonesia exports about 35,000t of high-quality cocoa beans per year.
Company promise programme in Indonesia
The new plant in Indonesia complements their goal to encourage sustainable cocoa production throughout the world. The company introduced the Cocoa Promise sustainability program in order to meet the global demand for sustainable cocoa beans. The program focuses on three key areas - training cocoa farmers, supporting cocoa farming communities and investing in the long-term sustainable production of cocoa. The company began the cocoa farmer training program in Indonesia in 2013, to encourage sustainable agricultural practices among smallholder farmers and the farming community. The company plans to provide training to more than 1,300 Indonesian smallholder cocoa farmers by 2015 by engaging farmer field schools.
