CKG Holding, an Ivory Coast-based company, is set to open a new cocoa factory in Oman next year at an estimated cost of $150 million, said a report.

The new company, Chocolatry of Oman, a joint venture between Oman and the CKG groupunder, comes at a time when the chocolate demand in the Middle East and India is peaking, reported the Bloomberg.

The upcoming factory in Salalah will have capacity to process 50,000 metric tons of cocoa beans a year,  said the report citing the CKG chairman Charles Kader Goore.

“This project will enable us to supply the markets of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the entire region where there is a big potential,” Goore said.

The cocoa beans used will come from Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s largest growers, he added.