Coca-Cola is expanding in China with more bottling plants.
The company's 43rd plant in China and its first in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, was just opened. The new plant represents a USD106 million investment and is part of a greater three-year, USD4 billion current investment plan for 2012-2014 that underscores Coca-Cola's continued confidence in and commitment to China.
The 170,000-square-meter plant begins bottling with both sparkling and still beverage lines producing Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, and Minute Maid. Three additional lines will be installed over the next few years.
Coca-Cola's capital investment reportedly provides 2,000 jobs and generates 20,000 indirect job opportunities in the local community.
With bottling plants in all five provinces of northern China, this latest addition underpins Coca-Cola's ability to deliver a robust portfolio of products that meet the increasingly diversified needs of consumers in China's fast-growing beverage market.