News

  06/04/2017 | Ingredients

Ecom buys German cocoa grinder Euromar

Swiss commodities trading group Ecom has agreed to buy the factory of German cocoa grinder Euromar Commodities GmbH which declared insolvency in December 2016. Ecom is a supplier of commodities to chocolate manufacturers, coffee roasters and cotton mills with cocoa trading operations and cocoa processing plants in the Netherlands, Malaysia and Mexico.

Euromar grinds cocoa to produce cocoa butter and powder, ingredients for chocolate and confectionery. The company had suffered liquidity problems caused by exchange rate fluctuations in the British pound, in which cocoa is traded, and swings in cocoa prices.

A sale contract for Euromar's factory, equipment and site has been signed with Ecom and approved by Euromar's interim committee of creditors.

It is expected that Euromar's 125 personnel will be taken on by Ecom. After completion of the purchasing contract of the assets and with new equipment purchases, Ecom will realign the factory and resume production at Euromar's plant at Fehrbellin near Berlin. German traders estimate the Euromar grinding plant in Fehrbellin can crush 150 tonnes of cocoa beans a day, which with full 365-day production means around 54,700 tonnes a year.

www.euromar.de www.ecomtrading.com