October 8 (SeeNews) - Switzerland-based cocoa and chocolate products maker Barry Callebaut has inaugurated a 55 million euro ($63.5 million) chocolate factory in Novi Sad, northern Serbia, it said.
The factory has an initial annual production capacity of over 50,000 tonnes of chocolate and will serve as a regional hub from which Barry Callebaut can address the rapidly growing chocolate markets of Southeastern Europe, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
"Novi Sad is the perfect location for us. I am pleased with the successful start and am confident that from Novi Sad we can [...] become the solution provider of choice for customers in the region," Barry Callebaut CEO Peter Boone said in the statement
Since the groundbreaking ceremony of the factory in early March 2020, construction work progressed rapidly and was completed in March 2021, Barry Callebaut said.
Barry Callebaut supplies its products to some of the leading global confectioners such as Nestle and Mondelez. The company runs about 60 production facilities worldwide and employs a global workforce of more than 11,500 people.
($ = 0.86599 euro)