Coca-Cola's Changsha Plant Starts Production

Coca-Cola's new factory in Mao Zedong's hometown of Changsha, which is the company's largest factory in central China with nine planned product lines, recently started production.

Muhtar Kent, chairman and chief executive officer of Coca-Cola, said that the Changsha plant is Coca-Cola's 44th production facility in China and it represents Coca-Cola's confidence in the Chinese market. At the same time, the company will complete its USD13 billion investments in China on schedule.

With total investments of CNY320 million, the new Changsha plant belongs to COFCO Coca-Cola Huazhong Beverages Co. Ltd. and it is Coca-Cola's largest bottling plant in central China. The plant has nine planned product lines, including four for water, four for sparkling beverages, and one for juice and juice drinks. At present, four of these lines are operating and all nice are expected to be running by 2020.

This is the first time for Coca-Cola to build non-sparkling beverage production lines in Hunan province. With an expected annual production capacity of one billion liters of beverages, COFCO Coca-Cola Huazhong Beverage Co. Ltd. will play a key role in expanding production of still beverages for the growing region.

Zhao Shuanglian, chairman of COFCO, said that the new plant is a new milestone in the history of COFCO and Coca-Cola cooperation, and also their strategic move to explore the central China market.