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  11/07/2019 | Ingredients

Barry Callebaut: good growth momentum continues

In the first nine months of fiscal year 2018/19 (ended May 31, 2019), the Barry Callebaut Group, Zürich, grew its overall sales volume by 5% (+ 10.6% in Q3) to 1,589,181 tonnes.  

Sales volume in the chocolate business grew by 5.9%, well above the underlying global chocolate confectionery market, which was up 0.9% according to Nielsen. Global Cocoa volumes increased +2.2%. Sales revenue in the period under review amounted to CHF 5.5 billion, an increase of +8.2% in local currencies (+5.7% in CHF). The increase in sales revenue was impacted by higher raw material prices and the first-time adoption of IFRS 153. 

"As anticipated we accelerated our volume growth in the third quarter. All Regions contributed to the good sales momentum, and our volume growth was again significantly above the global chocolate confectionery market," explained Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of the Barry Callebaut Group. "We are confident we will deliver on our current mid-term guidance. Going forward, we remain committed to achieving consistent above-market volume growth and enhanced profitability. This is why, in January, we renewed our mid-term guidance for the coming three fiscal years."

In March 2019, Barry Callebaut inaugurated a state-of-the-art processing unit at its Société Africaine de Cacao (SACO) plant in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. It includes a fourth grinding line and will increase SACO’s cocoa bean processing capacity by over 40.0% by 2022. This major extension highlights Barry Callebaut’s commitment to the African continent, not only as a supplier of high quality cocoa beans but also as an industrial base and as an emerging market for cocoa and chocolate consumption. Furthermore Barry Callebaut signed in April 2019 a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Serbia to construct the Group’s first chocolate factory in Southeastern Europe. The plant in Novi Sad is expected to have an initial annual production capacity of over 50,000 tonnes and to be operational by 2021.

www.barry-callebaut.com