A transcendental moment in the modernization works of the Rubén David Suárez Abella chocolate factory will undoubtedly be the beginning of the assembly process of the technological equipment, coming from several European countries.

That moment is foreseen for the beginning of March, a date in which the tasks of adaptation of the spaces required by the new machinery must be completed, in a first line: the production of chocolate bars and bonbons.

In this area, several of the works are finished and others are close to completion, says Réder Londres Noa, investor of the emblematic factory, inaugurated by Commander Ernesto Che Guevara on April 1st, 1963, in his capacity as Minister of Industries.

According to the technology specialist, until Friday February 15, the work in that line was at approximately 10 percent, mainly focused on the molds´ laundry. The floor of the different sections, the installation of the false ceiling, the lamps, almost all the plating of walls and the warehouses for finished products and containers are ready.

At the same time, they are working in the other production line, called the transformation of cocoa, which is the most complex in its execution due to the constructive adjustments required for the assembly of the equipment.

By next April, we hope to complete the works that will allow achieving a sequence of assembly in that last area, in which liqueur, butter and cocoa will be elaborated, says Húber Arista Hidalgo, director of the factory, modernly called the base business unit Derivados del Cacao, and subordinate to the Confectionery and Derivatives of the Flour Company.

The cost of the investment is estimated at 10.8 million pesos; of them, 8.4 in convertible pesos, with totally Cuban financing, and assets must be recovered in five years, said Londres Roa.

Giving an added value to the products

In a visit to the chocolate industry of Baracoa, held on November 18, the President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, called to give an added value to the products exported there, which would favor the income to the country in convertible pesos.

The Cuban President meant that the granting of added value to some items corresponds to the chaining of cocoa, a program that also develops with coconut and contemplates, among other aspects, the increase of harvests, the industrial use of each component of the crop, the improvement of infrastructure, roads and transportation, and even the drainage of low areas.

Cocoa butter is used in the food, medicine, cosmetics and soap industries, while cocoa- one of the most important
products extracted from the aromatic grain- has wide use in the production of ice cream, sweets, chocolate and other varied products.

In favor of energy and environment

Besides the equipment destined to the obtaining of the different assortments - Arista Hidalgo notes -, we also acquired one to have cold water in the productive process (chiller), an air compressor and a boiler for the generation of steam, which is already installed.

The new technology eliminates the toasting of cocoa with direct diesel, a task that will be now undertaken using steam, which will reduce energy expenditure and favor the protection of the environment. In addition, it introduces a new operation: the debacterialization of the grain, a process by which bacteriological parameters are obtained according to international standards.

Londres Noa, on his part, explains that the technology replaces ammonia with freon gas as a cooling agent, which will reduce the risk of chemical contamination of the workers and the surrounding population, with favorable impact on the environment at the same time.

The modernization of the plant also foresees the construction of a cistern with 540 cubic meters of capacity, the expansion of the laboratory (which is already in progress) and the logistics and transport base, the investor details, to ensure that the works will also benefit the socio-administrative and kitchen-dining areas.

Aspirations

According to the executive program, the factory must go into production in August of this year, although its workers expect an advance in the start, as well as to triple the annual production and achieve quality levels in the elaborations that allow them to venture into the foreign market.

The plant will be able to process 3 500 tons of cocoa per year in two shifts of work, of the around 1 200 that were achieved until the passage of Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, which severely affected the cacao plantations, now recovered to a large extent.

Old and new productions

With the new technology the production of 50 and 100 grams solid bars, instantaneous chocolate breakfast, butter, cocoa liquor and micro powdered cocoa or cocoa powder, among other products, is maintained. They incorporate, like new lines, the industrial production of chocolates, mainly combined with other flavors; the 30 grams solid bars and the combined 50 and 100 grams bars.

To the aspiration of tripling the average production of the last years before Hurricane Matthew and obtaining internationally competitive assortments, managers and workers add the commitment to elaborate innocuous foods for human health, from the start-up of the factory.

For the achievement of these claims, they count with the performance of the builders who execute the work, headed by the Engineering, Design and Service Company of the province of Granma and seconded by members of the Micons in Baracoa and the Business Base Unit of that municipality, belonging to the Provincial Construction Company.

Translation: Radio Baracoa