(Yicai) May 22 -- Swire Coca-Cola, the fifth-largest bottling partner of American beverage giant Coca-Cola, started building a CNY1.3 billion (USD180 million) factory that is both smart and green in southern China's Guangzhou to expand its business in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The new 128,000-square-meter factory, which includes 11 beverage production lines, as well as warehouses, and ancillary facilities, is expected to increase Swire Coca-Cola’s capacity by about 66 percent in the Greater Bay Area, the unit of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Swire Pacific announced today. Swire Coca-Cola prepares drinks such as Budweiser, Corona, and Monster Energy.

In response to China’s green and low-carbon development strategy, the undertaking has high standards for environmental protection. For example, its rooftop is equipped with solar panels, and the facilities have heat recovery systems and electric logistics vehicles. More than half of the building materials are environmentally friendly.

The new factory is part of Swire Coca-Cola’s long-term investment plan in China. The company announced last year that it will invest more than CNY12 billion (USD1.7 billion) in the mainland over the next decade. Last September, it started building a new CNY2 billion plant in Jiangsu province's Suzhou. Moreover, it got the green light to expand its Zhengzhou factory in Henan province.

Swire and state-owned food processing company COFCO Group are the two businesses in charge of bottling Coca-Cola's drinks on China's mainland. Swire has facilities in 12 regions, including Shanghai, employing about 25,000 people. Most of its plants are in the southern Guangdong province.

Swire Coca-Cola even operates factories in the special administrative region of Hong Kong, Taiwan province, as well as in Cambodia, Vietnam, and the United States. Last year, its sales increased by 6 percent to 1.9 billion units while revenue fell 5 percent to HKD51.9 billion (USD6.6 billion), according to the parent's annual report.

Editor: Emmi Laine