Swiss fragrance and flavour company Givaudan has opened a new manufacturing facility dedicated to savoury flavours in Makó, Hungary.
Designed to serve Givaudan's customers in the Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME) region more efficiently, the £105M, manufacturing facility already employs more than 200 staff and will have a total capacity of 40,000t.
Commercial production, including that of certified kosher, halal, and allergen-free flavours, will start in the coming months. The factory will be fully operational by the end of 2013.
Gilles Andrier, Givaudan chief executive, spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony in October.
He said: "This new factory is the largest greenfield investment that Givaudan has 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 footprint in the developing market and capture growth opportunities in the culinary and snack segments.
"The size and greater automation in material handling and compounding of the new Makó facility will help us to meet our 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 in the EAME region.
In 2011, it accounted for 35% of global sales in Givaudan's flavour division.
Figures released last month revealed flavour division sales were £1,138M during the first nine months of 2012 an increase of 4.8% in local currencies and 7.7% in Swiss francs over the same recording period in 2011.
