A new Coca Cola bottling plant, the 35th on the Chinese mainland, on Thursday began production in Huizhou, south China's Guangdong Province.

Guangdong has become a province with the most number of Coca Cola bottling factories, sources from Coca Cola (China) Beverages Ltd. say.

Apart from the one in Huizhou, bottling plants are also built in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, and in the cities of Zhuhai, Zhanjiang and Dongguan.

The new bottling plant covers an area of 77,610 sq m and cost 175 million yuan (about 21.58 million U.S. dollars). Installed with four production lines and with a designed annual capacity of producing 400,000 tons of beverages, the new bottling factory will be able to supply products to 30 million customers in eastern areas of Guangdong.

Coca Cola has so far set up 29 bottling companies which operate a total of 35 bottling factories across the Chinese mainland since it re-entered the country in 1979, according to Paul Etchells, president of Coca Cola (China) Beverages Ltd.

Source: Xinhua