ZURICH, SWITZERLAND — The Barry Callebaut Group, Zurich, opened its first chocolate facility in Santiago, Chile.

The plant will produce liquid chocolate and compounds for a variety of regional food manufacturers and confectionery companies located in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru.

“The opening of this state-of-the-art chocolate factory allows us to even better serve our current and future customers in Latin America,” said Gerardo Elizondo, general manager of Barry Callebaut in Chile. “We’re excited to expand our manufacturing footprint and to gain a strong foothold in a region that offers a lot of growth potential for us and for our customers.”

The facility in Chile is the seventh plant of the Barry Callebaut Group in Latin America. The company operates two cocoa facilities and a chocolate plant in Brazil as well as a cocoa facility and two chocolate plants in Mexico.