(This article was originally published Monday.)
By Leslie Josephs
NEW YORK--The cocoa-processing unit of Singapore-traded JB Foods
Ltd. (Q0W.SG) has set up shop in the U.S. to be closer to its
food-company customers, the company said Monday.
JB Cocoa, which processes cocoa beans into products that are
used to give a chocolate flavor to treats like ice cream, opened an
office in Manhattan this month, the company said in a statement to
The Wall Street Journal.
"Establishing a physical presence here is essential to
continuing to strengthen relationships with U.S. customers of cocoa
powder," Tey How Keong, JB Cocoa's chief executive in an
e-mail.
The world's growing taste for chocolate has invited new
competition to the cocoa-processing market. The world's chocolate
confectionary market was worth a record $109.7 billion last year,
according to market-research firm Euromonitor.
Last week, commodities trade house and processor Olam
International Ltd. said it was investing $61 million in a
cocoa-processing plant in Indonesia.
JB Cocoa competes with large cocoa processors such as
Switzerland's Barry Callebaut AG, Cargill Inc. and Archer Daniels
Midland Co. of the U.S. Last month, ADM said it was scrapping the
sale of its cocoa-pressing and chocolate processing business as a
whole and would instead pursue the sale of its chocolate
business.
JB Cocoa doesn't plan to bid on ADM's chocolate business,
according to a person familiar with the company's strategy.
In addition to cocoa powder, JB Cocoa processes in a plant in
Malaysia and one in Indonesia, cocoa butter and cocoa liquor from
cocoa beans, which are used to make chocolate candy. JB Cocoa
hired
Roberta Libanori-Perlman, who previously worked at trade house
Ecom Agroindustrial Corp., will head marketing and sales in the New
York office, the company said.
Write to Leslie Josephs at leslie.josephs@wsj.com
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