Italian confectioner Ferrero Group is expanding with the opening of its first chocolate processing facility in North America, just as prices for cocoa have been soaring. 

The company is producing chocolate for some of its brands including Butterfinger, Crunch and Kinder at a 70,000-square-foot expansion to its Bloomington, Illinois, campus, it said in a release May 6.

Ferrero already has manufacturing plants on Chicago’s South Side and in the city’s suburb of Franklin Park, but the site in downstate Illinois is its first processor site in North America and third globally. Eventually, the campus in Bloomington will include a $214 million facility making Kinder Bueno chocolate bars, which will create 200 local jobs.

The move comes as cocoa futures surged to an all-time high in April, with a supply shortfall prompting prices to more than double in three months. Earlier this year, Blommer Chocolate Co. said it was closing a Chicago factory that became too costly to operate.

“We’re focused on making sure our products are available and affordable in today’s environment,” a Ferrero spokesperson said in a statement. “The new facility is making chocolate and will continue making chocolate.”