A ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a Coca-Cola bottling plant is held in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, April 21, 2016. (Photo/Chinanews.com)
(ECNS) -- Coca-Cola (Yunnan) Beverage Co. officially began construction of a bottling plant in Kunming, Yunnan Province on Thursday.
The new facility will replace an existing plant in the area, tripling the number of bottling lines from four to 12. The 1.2-billion-yuan ($185 million) investment is part of Coca-Cola system's $4 billion investment plan that began in 2015 and will continue through 2017.
This builds on the $9 billion investment made in China between 1979 and 2014, and underscores Coca-Cola's strong confidence in the Chinese market and its business growth in the southwest region.
The plant is located in Majinpu New Town Industrial Base in Kunming National Hi-tech Industries Development Zone and covers an area of 195,632 square meters. Upon completion, it will deliver an annual capacity of 423 million unit cases of beverages with both sparkling and still products, including brands like Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Ice Dew and Ice Dew Chunyue, to fulfil the fast increasing demand of 47 million consumers in Yunnan province.
The plant adopts green building standards in various aspects from site selection, building environment, water-saving, energy-saving, air protection, material and resource utilization, indoor environment quality and design innovation.
It will strictly enforce the international Silver Certification of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and become yet another modern and environmentally-friendly green plant of Coca-Cola.
Glen Walter, CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling Investments Group China (BIG China), Marcelo Boffi, Vice President of Coca-Cola Greater China and Korea, and Li Jianhui, General Manager of Coca-Cola (Yunnan) Beverage Co. attended the groundbreaking ceremony together with local government officials.
"China is the third largest market for Coca-Cola globally and is pivotal to its global sales growth," said Boffi. "Since we announced a new $4 billion investment plan in China in 2015, we have been actively delivering on our promise. The new plant will help further strengthen Coca-Cola's market leadership in the southwest region."
As one of the most influential large-sized foreign-invested enterprises in Yunnan Province, the new plant project has been highly praised and won strong support from the local government and authorities.
"The new plant will become an important production base for Coca-Cola in China's southwest region," said Walter. "This investment will not only provide strong support to its sustainable development in Yunnan, but also boost economic development locally by increasing job opportunities and enhancing collaboration."
While actively integrating itself into local economic growth, Coca-Cola (Yunnan) Beverage Co. is also committed to corporate social responsibility and constantly investing in a variety of fields including community development, water resources and environmental protection.
Since 2000, the company has joined hands with Yunnan Youth Development Foundation to build 11 Coca-Cola Project Hope schools in Yunnan, which have benefitted about 3,500 students. Through the Clean Water Project, Coca-Cola has also provided nearly 80 water purifiers to underprivileged areas in Yunnan, helping improve the quality of drinking water for about 40,000 residents.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Walter, on behalf of all employees, donated 50,000 yuan to the Coca-Cola Project Hope School in Chuxiong in order to help students there enjoy a better study environment. Upon completion of the new Yunnan plant, Coca-Cola will continue to invest in sustainable development of the local community.
