Overview

Guan Chong Berhad was incorporated in Malaysia as a public company on 22^nd March 2004 and listed on Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on 8^th April 2005. GCB is the investment holding company, which started with 3 subsidiaries namely, Guan Chong Cocoa Manufacturer (GCCM), Guan Chong Trading (GCT) and Enrich Mix (EM). The Group is principally involved in the manufacturing of cocoa-derived food ingredients, namely cocoa mass, cocoa butter, cocoa cake and cocoa powder.

The Group’s history started in early 1980’s, where it was principally involved in trading of cocoa beans. In 1983, it started processing cocoa beans by setting up a factory in Parit Jawa, Muar, Johor. In 1990, with the vision to become a market leader in the local cocoa processing industry, the management sold the plant in Parit Jawa and built a new plant in the Pasir Gudang Industrial Area under GCCM.

Initially, the new plant began with an annual grinding capacity of 6,000 MT of bean grinding, and through years of upgrading and the spirit of continuous improvement, GCCM expanded its annual capacity to 80,000 MT. Our cocoa products gained wide acceptance from both local & international market.

In 2006, the Group made great progress in expanding its global reach by acquiring a 49% stake in Carlyle Cocoa Co., LLC, Delaware through its wholly-owned subsidiary GCB America, Inc, which provided the Group direct market access into the United States.

Besides that, the Group’s subsidiary has reached out to end-users by producing chocolate & chocolate beverages under the consumer food division, GCB Foods. GCB Foods entered full-fledged operations in 2007 after a great deal of effort in building its factory, machineries installation and recipe development.

The Group developed the brands CacaoRich and Melko, and increased awareness via creative product innovation and marketing activities. This company is also actively involved in doing private brands for hypermarkets.

In April 2010, GCB Cocoa Singapore Pte Ltd, the Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary was incorporated, and will act as a procurement, marketing and trading hub for both the cocoa grinding factories in Pasir Gudang and Batam.

With the growing demand and support from customers, the Group expanded its capacity by setting up a second grinding plant in Batam, Indonesia. This new plant, named as PT Asia Cocoa Indonesia, was commissioned in July 2011. This new plant had an initial annual grinding capacity of 60,000 MT, increasing the Group’s total production to 140,000 MT a year.

In line with the increase in demand for cocoa ingredients, the Group commissioned the second phase of its Batam factory in July 2012, with an additional grinding capacity of 60,000 MT per annum, bringing its Indonesia plant’s annual capacity to 120,000 MT.

In July 2017, GCB acquired the entire equity stake of Malaysian cocoa grinder, KokoBudi, now known as GCB Cocoa Malaysia. The Group then expanded the capacity of the factory from 9,000 MT to 50,000 MT per year, and fully commissioned the new plant in the first quarter of 2019. With the new addition, GCB’s total capacity across Malaysia and Indonesia plants reached 250,000 MT per year, catapulting GCB to be the fourth largest cocoa grinder in the world.

In August 2019, GCB announced its investment in a new cocoa processing plant in Cote D’Ivoire, the world's largest cocoa producing country. The new plant would have a grinding capacity of 60,000 MT a year, and is expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2021.