Panda shifts chocolate raisin production to Vaajakoski

Panda will move chocolate raisin production from Estonia to its confectionery factory in Vaajakoski, Jyväskylä, while broader chocolate production is transferred from Vaajakoski to Estonia, Yle reports.

The Vaajakoski factory will focus on liquorice and sugar-coated confectionery. Orkla said in August that sugar-coated confectionery production would be moved from Estonia to Finland.

“We now know that the production of chocolate raisins will move from Estonia to the Vaajakoski confectionery factory,” Orkla Finland Chief Executive Jutta Karppi told Yle by email.

Karppi said it was too early to specify which other sugar-coated products would be made in Vaajakoski instead of Estonia in the coming years.

Change negotiations connected to the planned production changes will begin at the Vaajakoski factory. All 146 employees at the factory are covered by the negotiations, which will last at least three weeks.

The planned production changes are scheduled to take place between 2027 and 2030. Karppi said they would not have immediate effects on staffing, and that it was too early to estimate the number of possible personnel impacts.

Chocolate-containing products will continue to be made in Vaajakoski, including chocolate-coated liquorice pieces. Chocolate raisins are also among the sugar-coated products that the factory is expected to specialise in alongside liquorice production.

Vaajakoski currently produces chocolate raisins under the Panda brand and under contract for the Coop brand. Karppi did not comment on whether the chocolate needed for these products would in future be brought to Vaajakoski from Estonia.

The Panda brand will continue to be used for confectionery made in Estonia.