Nestlé has inaugurated two new consumer healthcare factories in the China Medical City in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province.
The CHF150 million investment will boost the company's production of foods for special medical purposes (FSMP) and skin care products.
The two factories will be run by Nestlé business arms Nestlé Health Sciences and Galderma, its skin care business.
The facilities are built on a 13ha area and use 'best-in-class' technologies to ensure high quality assurance to manufacturing efficiency, according to the company.
Growth Platform
The company said it has identified consumer healthcare as an additional growth platform, complementary to its core food and beverage business.
“Nestlé is fully committed to continue to invest to support sustainable growth in China,” said Magdi Batato, executive vice president and head of operations for Nestlé S.A.
“By bringing the manufacturing capabilities of Nestlé Health Science and Nestlé Skin Health to China, we are in a stronger position to enhance Nestlé’s product offering and meet consumer expectations.”
Representatives from Jiangsu provincial and Taizhou municipal governments, industry associations and academics joined Batato at the inauguration ceremony.
Chinese Commitment
Commenting on the unveiling, Rashid Qureshi, chairman and CEO of Nestlé Greater China, said, "These new factories significantly strengthen Nestlé’s product and services offering to serve consumers in China.
"They underscore Nestlé’s commitment to nutrition, health and wellness, which is fully in line with government’s priority to build a healthier population in China."
In addition, Liu Xuecong, secretary-general of the China Nutritional and Health Food Association, added, "The FSMP industry is expected to become the new blue ocean for China's health industry.
"Nestlé's Taizhou factory is scientifically and technologically advanced and will undoubtedly play an important role in supporting the healthy development of China's FSMP industry.”
Nestlé recently reported an accelerated organic sales growth of 2.8% for the first quarter in 2018, helped by improving volumes.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Kevin Duggan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
