In October 2005, the CSM board decided to build a Lactic Acid plant in Thailand. This new plant will secure the uninterrupted supply of Lactic acid to our customers and it will reduce the overall average cost price of Lactic acid by producing against the lowest economical cost.

The plant also put PURAC in the position to be a large scale supplier to the Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) producers and be able to compete in the Chinese market.

A core project team had worked on the preparation of the project since January 2003. This enabled a flying start after approval of the proposal by CSM. The land was purchased in October 2005, followed by 6 weeks of land grading to level the land. A total of 200.000 m3 of soil needed to be added for this. At some points the level was increased by more then 6 meters.

All activities, varying from the building of the factory to training of new employees are proceeding well and on schedule.

For the World Championships Football,
that takes place in Germany, Bakemark Deutschland introduced a range of frozen bakery products - 4 new sweet and savory snacks that will not only inspire soccer fans: The "Donut für Deutschland" (Donut for Germany), a donut with sprinkles in the colors of the German flag, "Cake für den Kick" (Cake for the kick), a single portion lemon cake with green coconut sprinkles, that looks like a soccer playing field and 2 different filled pretzels "Brezel für Ballathleten" (Pretzels for soccer athletes), one is filled with fine salted butter and another one with delicious MILKANA-cheese.

The products respond to the demand for sweet and savory snacks not only in or around the stadiums, but in bistros, pubs, coffee shops, canteens and restaurants as well as in the travel segment and many artisan bakeries.


CSM's subsidiary BakeMark Deutschland,
the largest operating company within the Bakery Supplies Europe division, will expand its production capacity for frozen bakery products at its Delmenhorst factory.

CSM, global market leader in bakery supplies, will invest EUR 19 million in this new facility for innovative American style products, one of the key categories in the company.

The new facility is scheduled to supply the German and other European markets from early 2007 onwards.