(Yicai Global) June 24 -- US global food producer and seller Mars will invest USD45 million to expand its product line and its chocolate production line to further develop the China and Northeast Asian snack market.

The McLean, Virginia-based company will shell out USD20 million to promote its healthy BE-KIND snack line , and another USD20 million to build a production line for its high-end Dove-brand chocolates, it announced on June 21, the Beijing News reported. It will also spend USD5 million to replenish the registered capital of its plant in Jiaxing in eastern China's Zhejiang province on Shanghai's western outskirts.

The company entered the Chinese market in 1989 and set up the Jiaxing plant in 2005. It has since become the firm's largest and most advanced chocolate production base and supplementing its registered capital will help to enhance its role in the company's global supply chain.

Mars makes confectionery, pet food, and other foods. It had USD33 billion in annual sales in 2015 when Forbes Magazine ranked it the sixth-largest privately held US company.

Editor: Ben Armour