Pioneer Singapore confectionery company Merrymay Industries said it would start rolling out confectionery goods at its Jurong factory in November 1965.

The company was registered with a capital of at least $2 million.

The factory produced chewing gum and a variety of fruit and sugar confectionery for sale in Singapore and elsewhere.

One of the aims of the factory was to eventually supply the local market with sweets now imported from abroad, said Mr Ng Eng Huah, secretary to the managing director.

The company said the factory would provide jobs for 40 to 50 workers in one shift.

The confectionery trade is said to be a lucrative one in Singapore, with imports worth $6.1 million in 1964.

About a third of the amount imported was later re-exported, mainly to the Malaya states.

Top suppliers of confectionery to Singapore were China, Britain, Japan and Holland.

The factory planned to start with toffees, caramels, all types of centre-filled candy and non-medicated cough drops.

But from the next year, medicated cough drops would also be made.

Merrymay was acquired by Allied Chocolate Industries in the 1970s.