Ferré & Consulting Blog (English Version)

Following the divestment of its European consumer business, Barry Callebaut is further strengthening its footprint in Region Europe. Over the next few months, the company will invest nearly €22 million to upgrade and expand existing facilities. The majority of these investments is planned for 2011 and will be fully operational as of spring 2012.

Massimo Garavaglia, president of Barry Callebaut Western Europe, says, “With the planned investments, we will not only strengthen our industrial footprint in Western Europe, the company’s largest business region. We are also investing in our network of Chocolate Academies to support the further growth of our Gourmet business.”

In order to further optimise the factory network, increase customer proximity as well as to respond to increased demand for solid products, Barry Callebaut is expanding its chocolate moulding capacities by building a new line in Banbury (United Kingdom) and in Meulan (France). In addition, the company is also upgrading the chocolate factory in Banbury, incorporating latest technology and improved service capabilities.

In line with the aim to accelerate the expansion of its Gourmet & Specialties Products business, led by the two global brands Callebaut and Cacao Barry, Barry Callebaut will build a new Callebaut Chocolate Academy in Wieze (Belgium) and is refurbishing its Cacao Barry Chocolate Academy in Meulan (France). At its speciality and decorations plant in Zundert (The Netherlands), the company is establishing a new centre of competence for chocolate decorations, adding to the current Chocolate Academy there.

Source: Confectionery Production

Companies Barry Callebaut, Chocolate, cocoa

Indonesia is the focus of an extension of Nestlé’s sustainable Cocoa Plan initiative, with the Swiss food group aiming to pump $4m (€2.7m) into bean production in that country.

The KitKat maker said that its objective is to increase cocoa productivity at farmer level by 30 per cent in that country over the next four years, through training farmers, providing plant expertise, and supporting supply chain transparency.

Nestlé said that the initiative will also involve projects related to nutrition education, water, and rural development.

Data from the International Cocoa Organization shows that Indonesia, with total production of 550,000 tonnes of cocoa beans in 2010, was the world’s third largest cocoa producer.

ADM programme

June saw leading cocoa processor Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) announce that it had kick-started its Ivory Coast sustainable cocoa initiative – Serap – in Indonesia in a bid to boost cocoa quality from growers in that region.

A spokesperson for the cocoa processor told then that sustainability is essential to ensuring the long term future of the country’s cocoa industry.

“In Indonesia, cocoa farming is the main source of income for more than 600,000 smallholder farmers and their families, most of whom are located on the island of Sulawesi.”

Serap, which provides training and financial incentives to help cocoa farmers implement sustainable farming practices, will involve the collaboration of the Indonesian Cocoa and Coffee Research Institute (ICCRI), said ADM.

Clarity in the supply chain

As the consumer movement for sustainable and fair trade type products gains momentum, chocolate and cocoa suppliers are receiving more and more requests from customers for clarity in the supply chain.

The global commodities giant said that its confectioner customer base will gain through an additional source of certified sustainable cocoa products.

When asked about its five-year target for sustainable cocoa tonnage arising out of the programme in Indonesia, the ADM spokesperson said:

“Tonnages are always difficult to forecast as the programme roll-out depends on many different factors. We do know that Serap participants achieve generally a higher standard of cocoa bean quality due to all the support provided through the programme.”

Ripe for investment

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) told  recently that the Indonesian cocoa processing sector is ripe for further investment from multinational food manufacturers.

BKPM said that cocoa plantations in the country have experienced rapid development since the early 1980s, culminating in a plantation area reaching 1.5m hectares at the end of 2010.

Indonesia, continued the Board, makes a good base for cocoa processors as the country provides both a production base and a domestic market for cocoa.

Ivory Coast

Earlier this month, Nestlé announced that it was increasing its donations of disease-resistant cocoa trees to farmers in Ivory Coast in a bid to boost the quality of the beans that are produced in that country.

The chocolate giant said the plantlets can help farmers rejuvenate their farms and increase productivity by replacing old, low-yield, disease-prone trees.

Source: Confectionery News

Companies, Ingredients cocoa, Nestle

Another milestone has been achieved in the UTZ certified sustainable cocoa programme, with the first-ever shipment of cocoa beans from Ghana that meets that standard’s economic, environmental and social criteria.

Leading industrial supplier Barry Callebaut said it has bought the majority of the shipment, saying it applauds “the dedicated efforts of the farmers affiliated with the Cocoa Abrabopa Association (CAA), the first cocoa producer group to become UTZ certified in Ghana.”

Industrial chocolate and cocoa suppliers are receiving an increasing numbers of requests from customers for clarity in the supply chain, as the consumer movement for sustainable and fair trade type products gains momentum.

In cooperation with Solidaridad, the UTZ scheme was set up by a number of big players in the cocoa sector, including Mars, Nestle, Heinz Benelux, Cargill, Ecom and Dutch retailer Ahold, as well as a number of development and environmental organisations.

Daan de Vries, programme manager for cocoa at UTZ Certified, said while the quantity involved was only 800 tonnes, the development was significant: “While this amount represents a small, first step for the programme, we rate Ghana second globally in terms of UTZ certified production potential.”

In 2010 more than 3,900 Ghanaian farmers had achieved UTZ certification, and in the next three years, CAA said it aims to certify an additional 20,000 farmer members throughout Ghana’s cocoa growing regions.

The UTZ certified programme is a relatively “young one”, according to de Vries, with the first certification issued in 2009 for a cooperative in the Ivory Coast but it has huge potential.

“Current certified production is 81,000 tonnes, with 55 certified projects in 11 producer countries in Latin America, Asia, and West Africa contributing to this output,” said de Vries.

He added that the scheme has grown exponentially, with registered UTZ certified cocoa output at 5,500 tonnes in 2009.

In terms of yield, de Vries said that it relies on measurements taken by its industrial partners in the programme, with one of the players reporting a 50 per cent hike in the amount of cocoa beans being delivered to its cooperative by farmers following one year of certification compliance.

“That increase however,” added the UTZ programme manager, “could also be a reflection of greater loyalty from the farmers to that particular cooperative, and not only higher yields.”

And responsible use of fertiliser is a central tenet of the scheme, said de Vries, to ensure that the greater yields achieved are not at the expense of the environment.

Source : Confectionery News

Chocolate Callebaut, cocoa, UTZ Certified

The world’s top cocoa producer Ivory Coast is set to resume exports of the commodity after Laurent Gbagbo was finally ousted, a move that will likely weigh on elevated prices, analysts said Wednesday.

Asked by journalists Wednesday when the vital exports of the raw material used to make chocolate would resume, Gbagbo’s successor President Alassane Ouattara said: “Immediately.”

“I signed a decree yesterday (Tuesday), (Abidjan) port is under control. I named an interim port manager so everything is underway for cocoa to be sent out,” Ouattara said.

Around 400,000 tonnes of cocoa have accumulated on the dockside in Abidjan and the southwestern port of San Pedro during the crisis pitting Ouattara against Gbagbo, who refused to admit defeat in a November election.

“We do expect Ivory Coast cocoa exports to start making their way to export markets,” Barclays Capital analyst Sudakshina Unnikrishnan told AFP.

“There has been a build-up in stocks which are awaiting export but issues of financing and banking will need to be addressed before we witness normal exports flowing out.”

Forces belonging to Ouattara, backed by French and UN troops, captured his besieged rival Gbagbo in Abidjan on Monday at the climax of the deadly crisis.

Gbagbo, who had held power since 2000, refused to admit defeat in November’s presidential election, leading to heavy bloodshed and looting on the streets of Abidjan — the main city in a country supplying a third of the world’s cocoa.

The unrest halted the African nation’s cocoa exports, causing the price to hit the highest level since 1979 on New York markets.

Cocoa futures struck $3,775 a tonne at the start of March before falling back 10 percent earlier this month as traders anticipated Gbagbo’s capture. They held firm Wednesday after Ouattara’s expected announcement on a resumption to exports.

Many tonnes of cocoa beans have accumulated at key ports in Ivory Coast because of international sanctions that aimed to choke off Gbagbo’s economic resources and force him to step down from the presidency.

Ouattara, internationally recognised as the winner of the November election, sought to further reduce Gbagbo’s fire-power by ordering a halt to cocoa exports.

“In the near term we would expect cocoa prices to ease further on Ouattara gaining control,” Unnikrishnan said.

For now, Ivory Coast can look forward to reviving its economy after Europe on Tuesday offered more than 500 billion euros in aid.

Former colonial power France announced a cash injection of 400 million euros ($580 million), after which European Union development commissioner Andris Piebalgs added another 180 million euros.

Already on Friday the EU dropped some of the sanctions imposed on the country following a request from Ouattara — a move which the cocoa industry has applauded.

“We believe the decision by the EU to lift its restrictions to enable the resumption of exports from Cote d’Ivoire is a positive step towards helping the country and its people,” US agribusiness giant Cargill said in a statement.

“We are seeking clarification from the Ivorian authorities about the process for resuming exports and a key element of this process is for the local banking system to restart.”

A joint statement by the European Cocoa Association, confectionery organisation Caobisco and the Federation of Cocoa Commerce said that “a prompt resumption of cocoa activities will bring a much needed focus in the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people engaged in the Ivorian cocoa trade.

“We are confident that the international community will fully recognise the level of support and rebuilding of the economy and infrastructure that will be needed to facilitate a speedy recovery,” they added.

Source: AFP

Chocolate cocoa, exports

Cargill is expanding its cocoa and chocolate business in Europe through the acquisition of the business of Schwartauer Werke GmbH & Co. KG Kakao Verarbeitung Berlin, (“KVB”), an integrated chocolate company based in Germany.

KVB has two production plants, both in Berlin, Germany. The two plants have a capacity of over 75,000 tonnes of chocolate per year and employ around 180 people. Upon completion of the deal, after clearance from the regulatory authorities, KVB and its employees will become part of Cargill‘s global network of cocoa and chocolate businesses, and benefit from the greater scale of the integrated operation.

“This acquisition marks a significant step in Cargill’s chocolate growth strategy in Europe and our ability to better serve our existing and future customers” commented Jos de Loor, head of Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business. “The acquisition will strengthen Cargill’s position in Germany, the largest chocolate market in Europe, and create opportunities to expand our chocolate business into new markets.”

KVB’s two Berlin plants will complement Cargill’s existing German cocoa and chocolate facilities in Klein Schierstedt and Hamburg. Once integrated into Cargill, the business and its customers will fully benefit from Cargill’s deep knowledge in cocoa and chocolate and its broad expertise in food ingredients and technologies.

Combining KVB’s expertise with Cargill’s consistently high standards in chocolate, its access to high quality beans at origin, and its ability to manage ingredient price risks will stimulate further growth.

De Loor added: “The integration of the KVB chocolate assets and people into Cargill will strengthen our ability to deliver efficient and innovative solutions for our customers. We plan to invest significantly in KVB’s facilities to create a superior chocolate house that will enable us to offer customers greater choice, higher quality and extended market reach.”

Hermann Hauertmann, CEO of KVB, commented: “This transaction provides the basis for continued growth of KVB, both in Germany as well as internationally. The global network of Cargill opens up new opportunities in terms of supply chain and optimized cost structures to the benefit of our customers. We are confident that our people and our operations will deliver significant value to Cargill’s existing Cocoa and Chocolate business and look forward to develop innovative quality products for our valued customers.”

Completion of the acquisition is expected in the first part of 2011.

Companies Cargill, Chocolate, cocoa, KVB

A group of scientists led by confectioner Mars, IBM and the US Department of Agriculture is released their research into the preliminary genome sequence for the cacao tree.

The particular cultivar that was sequenced – Matina 1-6 – forms the basis of 99% of the world’s cocoa, and is a promising first step in advancing farmers’ ability to plant more robust, higher yielding and drought and disease-resistant trees.

“Genome sequencing helps eliminate much of the guess-work of traditional crop cultivation,” says Howard-Yana Shapiro, Ph.D., global staff officer of plant science and research at Mars.

Ajay Royyuru, senior manager at IBM Computational Biology Center, says, “By assembling the sequence fragments into the complete genome sequence and developing a detailed genetic map, we can help maximize the potential yield and income for cocoa farmers and catalyze future research and endeavours involving the cacao tree.”

The results of the research will be made available to the public with permanent access via the Cacao Genome Database www.cacaogenomedb.org.

Chocolate, Research cocoa, genome sequence

Barry Callebaut expects cocoa prices to gain further this year on supply concerns in top cocoa regions in West Africa and a recovery in global demand. The Swiss-based firm says prospects of weaker output from top grower Ivory Coast have shifted some of the company’s focus to Asia.

CEO Juergen Steinemann noted recently that Malaysia may drive some of the expansion once farmers improve the flavour of their beans through microbial fermentation to cater to a global market used to Ivory Coast beans. “Fundamentally, demand is higher than offers. Prices should go up,” Steinemann told reporters at Malaysia’s administrative capital of Putrajaya.

“Asia is the logical move away from Africa. Malaysia is the largest grinder in this region and we want to use our collaboration with the Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB) to improve the quality of cocoa and improve the incomes of farmers.”

Under the three-year project, the MCB will ferment cocoa beans using microbe cultures developed by Barry Callebaut. MCB Director-General Azhar Ismail said Barry Callebaut will purchase the beans at a premium to local market prices.

Chocolate, Companies Asia, Barry Callebaut, cocoa

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, research out this week suggests eating chocolate may have a positive impact on stroke. Don’t go buying too many heart boxes just yet, though, say the study authors.

A new analysis, which involved a review of three prior studies, suggests eating about a bar of chocolate a week can help cut the risk of stroke and lower the risk of death after a stroke. But the evidence is still limited, says study author, neurologist Gustavo Saposnik at St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto.

One study they looked at found that 44,489 people who ate one serving of chocolate per week were 22% less likely to have a stroke than people who ate no chocolate. Another study found that 1,169 people who ate 50 grams of chocolate once a week were 46% less likely to die following a stroke than people who didn’t eat chocolate.

The research appears in this week’s Neurology and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd annual meeting in Toronto in April.

New chocolate-stroke studies should also take into account age and gender of consumers, says Italo Mocchetti, a professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Georgetown University Medical Center. Mocchetti, who has studied flavonoids, says this chemical, which is found in cocoa, is linked to anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.

The chocolate-health connection is something many clients are interested in, says Katrina Markoff, owner of the premium chocolate line Vosges.

Chocolate, Health Chocolate, cocoa, flavonoids, stroke risk