With a total investment of 12 million US dollars, a bottling plant of Coca-Cola beverages was put into operation Thursday in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province.

The opening of the new plant will provide the 58 million consumers in northwest China with opportunities to drink locally made Coca-cola, said Luan Xiuju, a manager of the company.

The new plant, with an annual capacity of 24 million cases, aims to satisfy the huge market in the northwestern region of 58 million people.

Since Coca-Cola came back to China in 1979, it has produced about 99 billion bottles in its 24 bottling plants.

Source: Xinhua