Crown Asia Pacific Holdings, a subsidiary of Metal packaging giant Crown Holdings is set to build a new beverage can plant in Hangzhou, China. Meanwhile the company has also reported plans to install a second beverage can line in its existing facility in Dong Nai Province, Vietnam.
The new plant in Hangzhou will be sized to accommodate multiple can lines and will have an initial annual production capacity of approximately 600 million 2-piece, 33cl aluminium beverage cans. Capabilities to make other can sizes will be incorporated in the design with production expected to commence in the second quarter of 2011, according to the company.
Jozef Salaerts, president of Crown's Asia-Pacific division says, “Demand for two-piece beverage cans is growing in China and we expect that more customers will decide to make the transition from three-piece to two-piece beverage cans to lower their costs and enhance the quality of their beverage packaging.
"China is an important market for us and we are pleased to expand our capacity with a fifth plant to meet our customers' increased demand."
The company continues that the new line in its Vietnamese plant is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2010 and have an initial annual production capacity of approximately 600 million two-piece 33cl aluminium beverage cans, which would expand the Dong Nai plant's capacity to more than 1.2 billion cans.
As a result of this latest investment, Crown anticipates having five beverage can lines in three facilities in Vietnam, with total production capacity in excess of three billion aluminium two-piece cans.
Salaerts says, “This expansion reflects the Vietnamese market's growing demand for beverage cans. The aluminium beverage can is perfect for the Vietnamese market. It is recyclable and sustainable, is shipped easily, and most efficiently preserves the quality of the beverage product for the ultimate consumer.”
