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Cargill has opened its first blending facility in Southeast Asia, located at its site in Pandaan, East Java, Indonesia.

The facility strengthens the firm’s ability to serve sugar confectionery customers and consumers in Asia and will cater to rising demand for multi-sensorial sugar confectionery products, enhancing Cargill’s starches, sweeteners and texturizers capabilities and offerings.

According to Cargill, its 2024 ‘TrendTracker’ research revealed that 40% of APAC consumers prioritise texture in their F&B choices, with Asian consumers showing a preference for diversity when it comes to sugar confectionery products, from hard candies and chewy gummies to popping and fizzy sweets.

Francesca Kleemans, managing director of food solutions Southeast Asia at Cargill, said: "Serving the Asia Pacific region, with Indonesia as one of the key markets, our new state-of-art blending facility allows Cargill to develop ‘Asia for Asia’ speciality solutions, combining modified starches, sweeteners, pectin and carrageenan to help create exciting sugar confectionery treats with different textures for Asian consumers.”

Kleemans continued: “Further bolstered by our insight-led innovation and formulation expertise, we are able to support our customers in meeting unique market needs and diverse consumer demands across Asia, such as for nature-derived ingredients and halal requirements”.

Cargill now operates eight starches, sweeteners and texturizers plants in Indonesia, India and China, and four Asian food innovation centres in Singapore, China and India, positioning the company to deliver value, innovation and growth for customers across the region.

With strong operation capabilities in Asia, Cargill is helping customers to shortern and strengthen food supply chains with reliability and product innovation from the region, increasing the speed-to-market of products to end consumers.

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