PepsiCo opens new plant in C China

ZHENGZHOU – Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp, one of the leading food and beverage companies in China, and PepsiCo, Inc, one of the world's largest food and beverage companies, launched a new beverage manufacturing plant in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan province on Thursday.

The new plant, the first one opened since the two companies formed their strategic alliance earlier this year, is part of Tingyi's and PepsiCo's expansion strategy in China, projected to become the world's largest beverage market by 2015.

Covering 24,000 square meters and with two state-of-the-art beverage production lines, the plant will supply the beverage marketplace in Henan province, while further enhancing the companies' ability to provide consumers throughout central and western China with a wider range of beverage choices.

The plant will create approximately 500 direct jobs, as well as thousands of indirect jobs in the surrounding communities, as part of the two companies' efforts to support economic development in China's central and western regions

"We thank Tingyi and PepsiCo for choosing Zhengzhou, the city at the heart of China, as the home of their new plant to jointly contribute to the development of the central region," said Ma Yi, mayor of Zhengzhou city government, during the opening ceremony.

"The city government appreciates the critical role played by the business community in facilitating local economic development."

The plant will supply the beverage marketplace in Henan province, while further enhancing the companies' ability to provide consumers throughout central and western China with a wider range of beverage choices.

Meanwhile, green technologies was applied to the plant, expected to reduce energy consumption by 29 percent and water usage by 20 percent compared to the standard beverage plants in China

The alliance between PepsiCo and Tingyi, formed in March, provides Chinese consumers with several of the country's most popular beverage products, including: Pepsi-Cola, Mirinda and Gatorade etc.

The expansion in China is part of the company's overall plan to drive growth in emerging and developing markets around the world. PepsiCo nearly tripled its business in emerging and developing markets from $8 billion in annual revenue in 2006 to $22 billion in 2011.