Abbott to Invest $230 Million in Powdered Milk Products Factory in China
Abbott, the broad-based health care company, will invest $230m (Eur160m) to build a state-of-the-art nutrition manufacturing facility in Jiaxing, China. The facility represents Abbott’s largest investment in China to date and will manufacture premium powdered milk products for Chinese infants and children.
More than 17 million infants are born each year in China and rising incomes and a growing middle class have created increased demand for high-quality nutrition products. To meet the needs of this dynamic market, Abbott anticipates launching a number of new product innovations over the next three years across the pediatric nutrition category in China.
The plant, when operational in 2013, will employ approximately 300 people. With the addition of the new facility in Jiaxing, Abbott will have opened six manufacturing and R&D facilities in its nutrition and pharmaceuticals businesses in the Asia-Pacific region during the past three years, including three in China.
China represents the largest single market growth opportunity in global nutrition. Abbott expects to increase its nutrition revenues inChinato more than $1b by the end of 2014.Chinaalso continues to be an important part of Abbott’s emerging markets strategy. In the first half of the year, more than 26 percent of Abbott’s global sales were in emerging markets and nearly 42 percent of Abbott Nutrition’s global sales were in emerging markets.
When completed, the plant will become Abbott’s first fully integrated spray drying, blending and packaging facility inChina.
