Barry Callebaut Group records upturn in performance for first nine-months of the year
Barry Callebaut has expanded its gourmet capabilities recently in South Africa. Pic: Barry Callebaut
The Barry Callebaut group has released its latest performance figures revealing sales revenue growth of 13.5% to CHF 6.075 billion for the first nine months of its present financial year, writes Neill Barston.
As the Swiss-headquartered business noted it also recorded strong volume growth, up 7.9% to 1,751,422 for the period, with the company posting an improved position for its chocolate operations.
Th company added that it is still assessing the impact of the salmonella incident at its core Wieze production facilities in Belgium, which forced the temporary shutdown of its operations at the end of June. It confirmed that it plans to re-start its chocolate manufacturing in early August, following further investigation and full cleaning of the affected locations. The company also reported that none of the impacted chocolate on site reached retail food chains.
According to the company, its chocolate business continued its strong momentum in the third quarter (being up 7.5%), against a high comparison. Consequently, volume growth of +9.1% over the first nine months of fiscal year 2021/22 was well ahead of the underlying global chocolate confectionery market (+1.4%).
This included increases in all its regions – (EMEA 9.8% , Americas 6.6% , Asia Pacific 14.7% ), with positive contributions from the group’s key growth drivers Gourmet & Specialties ( 27.4% ), Emerging Markets (8.7%) and Outsourcing (6.9%). Furthermore, sales volume in Global Cocoa grew by +3.5% to 339,437 tonnes.
Commenting on the situation with regards to the salmonella outbreak, CEO Peter Boone said:”Food safety is paramount for Barry Callebaut and this is an exceptional incident. I want to thank all teams involved for the speed and diligence with which they are driving the cleaning and the gradual restart of the Wieze factory. We are working closely with our customers and fully understand that this incident is disruptive to their planning. We want to thank them for the good cooperation and understanding.”
Speaking on its outlook, he added: “Our strong innovation pipeline and continued drive for new opportunities make us confident to deliver on our mid-term guidance. Our confidence is bolstered by our deep and broad product portfolio and our global footprint.”
Among its core strategic achievements of recent months came in May, where the company opened Taycan, its first cocoa bean buying, cleaning, drying and export facility in Duran, Ecuador. The state-of-the-art facility, a home to the Group’s employees in Ecuador, fits Barry Callebaut’s strategy to continuously build its integrated supply chain.
Also that month, it officially inaugurated its Chocolate Academy in Casablanca, Morocco, as the second such facility on the continent, enabling chefs and artisans to showcase and develop their talent and skills.
In April 2022, Barry Callebaut announced that it will build a specialty chocolate factory in Ontario, Canada, with an initial annual production capacity of over 50,000 tonnes, expanding its North American footprint. To staff this new state-of-the-art facility, Barry Callebaut expects to create over 200 new jobs.
In addition, Barry Callebaut expanded its regional customer proximity by strengthening its Gourmet distribution network in South Africa and Latin America. In South Africa Barry Callebaut set up its own local network of distributors and expanded its Gourmet product portfolio. In Latin America Barry Callebaut signed a long-term distribution agreement for its global Gourmet brands with Levapan, expanding its presence to Ecuador and Colombia.
In the period under review, Barry Callebaut received two awards for its innovation capabilities at the 2022 Sweets & Snacks Expo Awards Ceremony in Chicago, US. The National Confectioners Association (NCA) named Barry Callebaut winner of the 2022 “Ruby Award for Supplier Innovation” in recognition of its WholeFruit chocolate, a unique couverture chocolate made from 100% pure and upcycled cacaofruit. The award “Best in Show” was granted to “Trü Frü Nature’s Strawberries”, frozen strawberries immersed in Ruby cacao.