Growing market demand in the country has prompted the global packaging supplier to open the three can plants in Putian (Fujian Province), Foshan (Guangdong Province) and Ziyang (Sichuan Province).
The new facilities will have an initial combined annual production capacity of 2.1bn aluminum beverage cans.
Expansion in China
The Putian plant is expected to become operational during the fourth quarter of 2011, the Ziyang plant during the first quarter of 2012 and the Foshan plant during the third quarter of 2012.
Each of the plants will be designed to accommodate the installation of additional production lines as market demand grows, to produce 25cl, 33cl and 50cl cans.
"The demand for beverage cans continues to grow in China and we are pleased to expand our capacity with new state-of-the-art equipment to meet our customers' requirements," said Jozef Salaerts, president of Crown's Asia-Pacific division. "These investments are supporting the growth plans of major local and international corporations, and we are excited about our strategy and future in China."
Crown’s CEO John Conway added that the expansion would significantly enhance the company’s position in China by offering a broad product range in beverage cans and comprehensive geographic coverage.
Emerging markets
Emerging markets such as China have been highlighted as crucial to the future and further expansion of Crown.
The company has announced four significant expansion projects over the past year and a half, with plans to develop production capacity in Brazil, China and Vietnam.
In March this year, the company announced plans to open a beverage can plant in Hangzhou, China with an initial annual production capacity of 600m cans.
A week later, Crown also announced plans to double its capacity at two Brazilian beverage can plants on the back of growing demand for soft drink and beer cans in the region.
Once the new beverage can capabilities are completed at Crown’s Estancia and Ponta Grossa plants, the company will have annual capacity of about 6bn beverage cans and ends in Brazil, including the production of its other facilities in Cabreuva and Manaus.
In July last year, the packaging giant acquired a drink cans facility in the Dong Nai province in Vietnam. Crown then announced in February 2010 plans to install a second beverage can line at the facility that would double annual production from 600m cans to 1.2bn cans.