Coca-Cola launches Hebei bottling plant
Print Edition
The Coca-Cola Company, the world’s biggest beverage maker, opened a new bottling plant in north China yesterday as part of a US$4 billion investment plan to underscore its confidence in the growth of the Chinese beverage market.
The US$106 million plant, Coca-Cola’s 43rd in China, is the company’s first facility in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province. The northern province in China has a population of more than 72 million and a per capita GDP of US$5,259, making it one of the most important growth markets in the country for the company, Coca-Cola said in a statement.
Coca-Cola announced its plan in 2012 to make a total investment of US$4 billion between 2012 and 2014 in new infrastructure, partnerships, innovation, sustainability and brand building in China. The beverage giant’s volume sales in China grew 9 percent in the third quarter, led by an 8 percent increase in sparkling beverages.
Coca-Cola has made more than 2.4 billion servings of sales last year in Hebei and saw a double-digit annual growth on average since 2008, according to the company.
The beverage maker now has five plants, including the new one, in all five provinces in north China. The latest addition aims to underpin Coca-Cola’s ability to deliver a wide range of products to meet increasingly diversified customer needs in China’s fast-growing beverage market, the statement said.
The 170,000-square-meter (42 acres) new plant began bottling with both sparkling and still beverage lines producing Coca Cola, Sprite, Fanta, and Minute Maid. Three additional lines will be added to the facility over the next few years, it said.
“Coca Cola’s investment in China is strategically important in achieving our 2020 Vision goals, and largely possible due to our partnerships with China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) and our other bottling partners,” Muhtar Kent, chairman and chief executive officer of Coca-Cola, said during the inauguration of the new plant yesterday.
“This new plant in Shijiazhuang will help Coca-Cola create a lasting positive impact in the community and contribute to a sustainable future for the people of Hebei,” he added.
Capital investment of the new plant in Hebei provides 2,000 jobs and generates 20,000 indirect job opportunities in the local community, Coca-Cola said.
“Coca-Cola’s bottling business is of strategic importance to the COFCO Group as it provides consumers with a full range of beverage choices,” said Zhang Jixiang, president and chief operation officer of COFCO Coca-Cola Beverages Ltd, a joint venture between COFCO and Coca-Cola, which manages the bottling business.
“Today’s inauguration of this world-class plant is a major milestone. Upon completion, it will become the largest of our 12 COFCO Coca-Cola bottling plants in China,” Zhang added.
As part of the effort and commitment to accelerate business growth in a responsible and sustainable manner, the new plant implements stringent conservation and source water protection plans and efficiently manages water use by reusing treated wastewater and replenishing water used back to the community, the company said.
In the past five years, Coca-Cola has built eight bottling plants in China, including facilities in Urumqi, Nanchang, Wuhan, Luohe, Hohhot, Sanshui, Yingkou and Shijiazhuang respectively.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
