Givaudan opened its facility in Makó

Givaudan, the world's leading fragrance and flavour company, formally opened its new best-in-class, manufacturing facility dedicated to savoury flavours in Makó, Hungary.

Local dignitaries including Péter Szijjártó State Secretary for Foreign Trade, Hungary and Dr. Péter Buzás, Mayor of Makó, Hungary joined Givaudan's Chairman, Jürg Witmer, CEO Gilles Andrier and Flavours President, Mauricio Graber for the facility's ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Designed to serve its customers more efficiently in the Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME) region, the €130 million (CHF 170 million), best-in-class facility already employs over 200 staff and will have a total capacity of 40,000 tonnes. Commercial production, including of certified Kosher, Halal, and allergen-free flavours, will start in the coming months, progressively building up until the factory is fully operational by end 2013.

The site was chosen with the assistance of Hungary's Ministry for the National Economy, the Hungarian Investment Agency and the city of Makó itself.

Gilles Andrier, CEO, Givaudan who spoke at the ceremony said: “This new factory is the largest greenfield investment we have ever made and an important part of our growth strategy. This new site will strengthen our supply chain, enabling us to continue to expand our developing-market footprint and capture growth opportunities in culinary and snacks segments. The size and greater automation in material handling and compounding of the new Makó facility will help us meet customers' needs as the scale and complexity of the savoury and snacks market continues to grow.”

The savoury segment represents approximately 33% of the flavour market potential in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EAME) region with Givaudan owning the broadest savoury portfolio range across all key product applications and flavour profiles. In 2011, the savoury segment represented 35% of global sales in the Flavour Division.