(Yicai Global) March 13 -- Starbucks plans to spend USD130 million on a new roasting plant in China, marking the US coffee chain's largest single investment outside of the United States, online tech media 36Kr reported.

Starbucks will build an industrial park for coffee roasting, smart warehousing and logistics close to Shanghai in Kunshan, eastern Jiangsu Province, the Seattle-based company said. It signed a deal with the Kunshan Economic and Technological Development Zone today.

Starbucks has six roasting plants worldwide. Five are in the US; the other is in the Netherlands. The Kunshan plant will become its biggest outside the US, with an annual capacity of more than 60,000 tons.

The site will cover a total of 80,000 square meters. Building work on the roastery, the main part of the first phase, will start in the second half of this year. The company expects it to be up and running in 2022.

Starbucks will ship premium beans from around the world to the plant to meet the supply needs of all its Chinese outlets. It will also construct a warehouse to store raw beans and a highly automated logistics center, making it the core of the company's distribution network in China.

The plant will consider further supply to the company's overseas markets in the future, Starbucks said. So as to create a green industry complex, the project will apply for platinum accreditation with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design from the US Green Building Council, the firm added.

Edited: Peter Thomas