ZURICH, SWITZERLAND — Barry Callebaut has opened a logistics point in Northeast Brazil as part of an operation expansion in the region.

According to the company, the venture will provide better shipping terms to partners since it will use a delivery route from Maceió, the industrial capital city of the Northeast Brazilian state Alagoas, and therefore will be closer in distance to customers in the Northeast region of Brazil, which include distributors and chefs. The company also said it expects for sales in the region to increase by approximately 20% due to more agile deliveries and a lesser need for customer inventory.

“Barry Callebaut is always looking for expansion opportunities to optimize access to our product range,” said Bruno Scarpa, commercial director of South America at Barry Callebaut. “The arrival in Maceió is another step in getting closer to our current and future customers.”

The Barry Callebaut facility in the city of Extrema, located in the Southeast Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, will continue supplying the Northeast Brazilian state of Bahia, which encompasses two manufacturing plants for cocoa processing and a seedling nursery managed by the Cocoa Horizons Sustainability project, the company noted. All products in Barry Callebaut’s portfolio — including Callebaut, Cacao Barry, Mona Lisa, Carma and the Brazilian brand Sicao — will be stored in a support plant in Maceió.