Food & Drink World’s largest chocolatier plans factory in Egypt By Chris Hamill-Stewart October 7, 2024, 3:25 PM Barry Callebaut via Flickr Switzerland-based Barry Callebaut is the world's largest manufacturer of chocolate, with about a 40 percent market share Barry Callebaut to build $30m site Operates 66 factories globally Investment a boon for Egypt The world’s largest producer of chocolate has said it plans to build a $30 million factory in Egypt. Switzerland’s Barry Callebaut is the world’s largest manufacturer of chocolate, with about a 40 percent market share in volume terms, and is the largest processor of cocoa beans with about 20 percent market share. Vamsi Mohan Thati, regional president for Asia, Africa and the Middle East at Barry Callebaut, announced his company’s plan to build a new factory during a visit hosted by Egypt’s General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (Gafi). Mohan said the company’s intention is to enter the Egyptian market by establishing a $30 million project for chocolate manufacturing. Egyptian developer invests $1bn in Saudi sports clubs Egypt looks to Gulf investors to end power blackouts Chocolate shops squeezed as cocoa bean prices hit 46-year high Barry Callebaut operates 66 factories globally and employs more than 13,000 people. The company’s investment in Egypt comes at a difficult time for the Egyptian economy. According to S&P Global’s Egypt PMI, which is designed to give a single-figure snapshot of operating conditions in the non-oil private sector economy, “September survey data signalled a renewed decline in business conditions across the Egyptian non-oil private sector, as rising price pressures acted to dampen sales and slow business activity”. The agency added: “Output and new orders both declined at the sharpest rates since April, following the first expansion in the former metric for three years in August.” At a five-month low of 48.8 in September, Egypt’s headline index was below the 50 no-change value, to indicate a modest decline in business conditions. It has only registered above 50 once — in August 2024 — since November 2020. Inflation also continues to plague the country’s economy. Egypt’s annual headline inflation reached 25.6 percent in August this year after being recorded at 25.2 percent in July.
