Swedish packaging company Tetra Pak International (Lund; www.tetrapak.com) is to invest EUR 60m in a packaging material manufacturing plant in Hohhot, China to support the country´s growing dairy and beverage industry. The facility has a planned capacity of 8 bn packages annually and is scheduled to start operation in the fourth quarter of 2008. The plant brings Tetra Pak´s accumulated investment in China to more than EUR 250m.

Hudson Lee, managing director of Tetra Pak China said that the unit will primarily serve customers in the north of the country, freeing up capacity in the company´s southern factories for customers in adjacent regions. Tetra Pak estimates that the Chinese dairy industry will grow at an annual average of 15% over the next five years.

The facility will include equipment and technology to produce materials including the "Tetra Brik" and "Tetra Fino" aseptic carton packages. Other Tetra Pak plants in China are located in Kunshan, Foshan and Beijing, where the company earlier announced a EUR 30m investment to double annual production capacity to 16 bn packages.