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GENEVA, Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Firmenich, the world’s largest privately-owned fragrance and taste company, today announces the commissioning of a new multipurpose production unit for renewable ingredients at its facility in Castets, southwestern France. The new plant, which will be operational in January, will increase production capacity on the site by 50% to serve perfumery customers and address the fast-growing demand for sustainable products.
“This additional plant at Castets strengthens our global leadership in renewable ingredients by placing Firmenich in a strategic position to offer extra capacity for perfumery, providing superior service close to our customers in Europe and capturing growth opportunities,” said Firmenich CEO Gilbert Ghostine. “The state-of-the-art facility also makes a significant contribution to our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) objective to ensure 70% of Firmenich ingredients are manufactured from renewable carbon sources by 2030.”
“We are very proud of this new ultra-modern plant, designed to extend our unique industrial expertise in producing pine-based ingredients from upcycled materials,” added Firmenich President of Ingredients Boet Brinkgreve. “This major expansion will position Firmenich uniquely as the recognized supplier of bio-sourced and renewable ingredients, and help our customers deliver on their own ESG goals.”
The 17,000 square meters of production floor space, spread over four floors, is equipped with the most advanced technologies in the industry to ensure the highest standards of efficiency, quality, health and safety in line with the Group’s targets. Its multipurpose design secures supply for a diversity of finished products as well as for a large range of intermediates. The new plant provides more cost-effective solutions with reduced environmental impact thanks to enhanced proximity to the European market in particular, reducing transportation of feedstock and finished products.
In keeping with Firmenich’s responsible business approach and its ambitious 2030 ESG goals, sustainability criteria were incorporated from the outset in the project design.
About Firmenich
Firmenich, the world’s largest privately-owned fragrance and taste company, was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1895 and has been family-owned for 126 years. Firmenich is a leading business-to-business company specialized in the research, creation, manufacture and sale of perfumes, flavors and ingredients. Renowned for its world-class research and creativity, as well as its leadership in sustainability, Firmenich offers its customers superior innovation in formulation, a broad and high-quality palette of ingredients, and proprietary technologies including biotechnology, encapsulation, olfactory science and taste modulation. Firmenich had an annual turnover of 4.3 billion Swiss Francs at end June 2021. More information about Firmenich is available at www.firmenich.com.