CHINA – PepsiCo, an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation, has made plans to invest US$100 million to expand and renovate a food factory in Shanghai, China.
According to FoodBev, the company said it will add a new production line and introduce advanced packaging and warehousing technology at the Songjiang plant.
The investment will increase the site’s production capacity for potato chips in line with demand among Chinese consumers.
The expansion will provide approximately 370 direct jobs and reflects PepsiCo’s long-term commitment to China, the company said in a statement.
“China is one of PepsiCo’s global growth drivers. In the past 20 years, PepsiCo’s food business in China has been actively expanding and has achieved remarkable results.
This capital investment not only reflects our ‘In China, For China, With China’ commit, but also represents the continuous investment made by PepsiCo based on changes in local demand.
PepsiCo will continue to focus on China and strives to make greater contributions to its sustainable development,” said Ram Krishnan, president and CEO of PepsiCo Greater China.
FoodBev added that the company has, over the past ten years, invested US$7 billion in its Chinese operation, entering the country’s food sector in 1993 with the introduction of Leshan potato chips.
Today, the company’s food business in China has grown to incorporate seven food production plants, six large potato farms and ten cooperative farms.
The US snacking giant claimed that more than 10,000 farmers had benefited from its agricultural projects in the country during the last decade.