The Swiss family-owned company Pronatec has started the country’s first 100 % organic cocoa processing plant in Beringen near Schaffhausen. Pronatec Swiss Cocoa Production has emerged as an entirely organic production plant and will process around 15,000 t/a of organic cocoa beans, sourced from smallholder cooperatives to make the semi-finished products cocoa mass, cocoa butter and cocoa powder. Having its own cocoa-processing plant means that, from procuring the beans from small-scale farmers, through fermentation and export to processing and sale of the finished product, all stages of the value added chain are now in Pronatec’s hands. David Yersin, CEO and Swiss organic and fair trade pioneer, explains: “More and more consumers are not only looking for sustainable products but wanting to know exactly where the ingredients come from. This production plant is our response to this trend.”