17 April 2008 – Belgian media report that food and drink giant Kraft Foods inaugurated a new production line at its Hale chocolate factory.
The state-of-the-art production line, which is entirely automated and cost $15 million, will take the factory’s annual production capacity from 60,000 to 80,000 tonnes, once it is fully operational.
The new facility marks Kraft’s largest investment in the European chocolate sector in 15 years. It aims to allow the group to tap into the lucrative and growing premium chocolate market. In 2007, this segment grew 14% in Europe and 26% in Belgium.
Kraft operates two chocolate plants in Belgium. The Herentals factory processes cocoa into a semi-finished product which is then sent to the Hale manufacturing site, where Côte d’Or, Milka, Freia and Marabou chocolate items are produced.
Hale was chosen as the location for the line thanks partly to its geographical proximity to Kraft’s main European markets for chocolate, namely Belgium (33%), France (33.4%), Germany (8.5%), the Netherlands (7.8%) and Scandinavia (3.8%).
The investment is seen to be reinforcing the importance of Belgium within the multinational group.