Grand-Place Opens Chocolate Plant in Vietnam
The Grand-Place, the Belgium’s leading chocolate maker, April 7 inaugurated its chocolate plant in Vietnam-Singapore IZ, southern Binh Duong province.
Its US$3 million plant will produce chocolate products like basic chocolate bars, and products for ice cream, cookies and cake decoration.
“The plant’s current daily average capacity is around ten tons and we plan to reach full production of more than 3,000 tons by the end of 2009,” Grand-Place Vietnam’s General Director Gricha Safarian said.
Next year, the plant’s capacity will double to 6,000 tons, he said.
More than 80 per cent of the plant’s output will be sold in Vietnam, with the rest exported to North America, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Cambodia.
Grand-Place plans to open another plant in 2011 in Bac Ninh Industrial Park adjacent to Hanoi and a third in the Mekong Delta after five or six years to process cocoa supplied by farms in Ben Tre and Dak Lak provinces.
The Belgian company came to Vietnam in 1993 with a representative office but now has four sales offices in Hanoi, Danang, Ho Chi Minh city and Can Tho besides the new factory. (Vietnam Economic Times, Youth)
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