Mondelez Plans $90m Biscuit Plant In Bahrain

Packaged food company Mondelez International is planning to build a $90 million biscuit plant in Bahrain to reduce costs and meet growing demand for its biscuits, the U.S. company said on Wednesday.

The maker of Oreo, Ritz and Cadbury chocolate aims to start full commercial production in early 2016, operating four manufacturing lines with an initial capacity of 90,000 tons annually.

“This investment in Bahrain is part of our ongoing supply-chain reinvention plan,” Daniel Myers, Mondelez International EVP, Integrated Supply Chain, said in a statement. “We’re implementing several such initiatives around the world to capitalize on growing demand, while also reducing costs and improving productivity,” he said.

The company expects to deliver $3 billion in gross-productivity savings, $1.5 billion in net savings and $1 billion in incremental cash over the next three years to help it improve its operating-income margin, the statement said.

The new plant will create about 300 jobs, the company said.

Mondelez has already invested more than $75 million in a Kraft Cheese and Tang-powdered beverage plant in Bahrain.

Mondelez, formerly Kraft Foods, has operated in the Middle East for more than a century from its regional base Dubai.