The US Commodity giant Cargill unveiled its plan to set up a 10000 TPA chocolate manufacturing unit in western India. Cargill is planning to serve the Asian market from its Indian operations in the future.

The size of the Asia pacific Cocoa and chocolate market was US$ 27.1 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach USD 30.3 B by 2023. The amount of cocoa defines the category of chocolate .Milk chocolate has the highest share of 50% of all chocolate consumption but they contain only 10% cocoa. Conversely the dark chocolate category has more than 60% cocoa in it.

Francesca Kleemans MD, Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate Asia-pacific did not divulge the name of Indian partner. She told that with low per capita consumption and high population, India offers a great growth potential in this category. Cargill is world’s second largest chocolate manufacturer in the world.

Cargill will be developing the innovative range of unique chocolate products at their R&D centers at Singapore, Shanghai and Gurugram. Currently, India has a total chocolate market of more than USD 1.5 Billion. Mondelez, Nestle, Amul and ITC are amongst the major players in chocolate. The premium segment is 10-12 % of the chocolate markets and shows an upward trend.