By IANS/EFE,
Mexico City : Mexico’s Coca-Cola Femsa, the world’s largest bottler of Coca-Cola Co. products, said it broke ground on a $140 million plant in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state.
The company, a unit of conglomerate Fomento Economico Mexicano, or FEMSA, said in a filing with securities regulators that 800 direct and indirect jobs would be created during the 18-month construction phase.
The 300,000 sq. meter bottling plant will have the capacity to produce 2.1 million liters annually of soft drinks.
The plant will incorporate “the highest environmental standards” both in construction and operations, Coca-Cola Femsa said.
All production will be concentrated at the new bottling plant, with the existing facility in Belo Horizonte being converted into the company’s biggest distribution facility in Minas Gerais, Coca-Cola Femsa Brasil chief Ricardo Botelho said.
Coca-Cola Femsa has 34 bottling plants across Latin America and provides its products to 1.6 million retailers in the region.