The site in Toluca, 65 km southwest from Mexico City, adds 65,000 metric tons to the firm’s existing 100,000 MT capacity at its factory in Monterrey.
Supplying Grupo Bimbo
Barry Callebaut acquired the factory from Chocolates Turin in June 2011 and announced in January 2012 that it would expand the site after signing a long-term sourcing agreement with Mexican bakery giant Grupo Bimbo.
Barry Callebaut will supply Grupo Bimbo with up to 32,000 MT of chocolate products annually.
Growing Mexican market
Dave Johnson, president of Barry Callebaut's Region Americas, said: “Moving closer to our customers puts us in an even better position to continue opening up the Mexican confectionery market. This attractive market is expected to grow significantly over the next years."
Nielsen has forecast that every confectionery category in Mexico will grow between 5-15% from 2011-15. In contrast the world chocolate market is expected to develop 2-3% per annum.
Barry Callebaut will take on 140 new employees at the new Mexican site, which becomes its fourth largest production plant for liquid chocolate globally.
The company has been operating in Mexico since it opened its Monterrey factory in 2009 and is now the country’s largest industrial scale chocolate manufacturer.