Mondelēz International, maker of Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers, will start production at a $90 million plant in Bahrain in the third quarter of 2016, later than it had expected, according to Terry Denton, the plant’s director.
“Detailed planning of the building and production lines within” took “slightly longer than expected,” Denton said by e-mail on Wednesday through a company spokeswoman. In October last year, Mondelez said full commercial production was scheduled to start in early 2016. The plant will produce six brands, including Ritz and Oreo, it said.
“The focus at the moment is to get the new facility built in Bahrain, which is our second facility,” Denton said in an interview in Dubai Tuesday.
The plant will have four manufacturing lines, with a total of almost 90,000 tons a year, Mondelez said in October. Demand for the company’s biscuits has been growing at double-digit rates in the Middle East and Africa, it said.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
