The plant in Makassar will be 60% owned by Callebaut and 40% by Comextra as part of joint venture company P.T. Barry Callebaut Comextra Indonesia.
The factory, announced in November 2011, will have an initial 30,000 metric tons capacity.
The latest build grows on Barry Callebaut’s manufacturing footprint in Asia after it acquired three plants in the region, including one in Indonesia, from its recent $950m buy of Petra Foods’ ingredients division.
Callebaut now has five cocoa and four chocolate factories in Asia.
Cocoa powder demand growing in Asia
The company said in a statement: “As Asian economies grow, demand for high quality cocoa and chocolate products also increases. It is expected that Asian demand for cocoa powder products will grow by 5-9% annually in the coming years; chocolate volume growth is forecast to increase by 4-6% in the same period - much higher than the respective growth rates in other parts of the world."
Indonesia’s growing chocolate market
Mintel valued the Indonesian confectionery market at $1.2bn in 2012 and expects it to grow 22% by 2014.
The $867.1m domestic chocolate market is dominated by Petra Foods, while Mondelez and Nestlé are also present.
Cargill is another cocoa processor that sees great potential in the country and is currently constructing a $100m cocoa processing plant in Gresik, due to be operational by mid-2014.
World’s third largest cocoa processor
Indonesia is the world’s third largest cocoa growing nation, behind the Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Barry Callebaut said its Makassar plant was “ideally located” on Sulawesi Island, where most Indonesian beans are grown, thus reducing logistics costs.
The site will be home to 95 employees.