Nestlé China to invest in pet food and plant-based factories

Nestlé is announcing a series of investments that will further strengthen its footprint in China and further enhance its product portfolio with innovative and premium products. The investments, in total more than 100 million Swiss Francs, include a significant capacity expansion of Nestlé’s existing pet food plant in Tianjin, introducing new production lines for high-value products building on the strong growth in the company’s existing pet food portfolio. It also includes the company’s first production facility in Asia for plant-based products. In addition, there will be a new investment for the confectionery business with an upgrade of the production line of Nestlé Chengzhen Wafer. Nestlé will also further develop the Tianjin Nestlé Quality Assurance Center.

Together these investments underline Nestlé’s determination to contribute to the transformation and upgrading of China’s food industry. A signing ceremony for a Memorandum of Understanding between the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) Administrative Commission and Nestlé China was held in Tianjin. Guests from both the government and companies witnessed the signing of the partnership agreements.

Rashid Qureshi, chairman, and chief executive officer of Nestlé Great China Region, said, “Nestlé has a strong commitment to China and has long been dedicated to deepening our roots in the Chinese market. Since Nestlé opened the first factory in Tianjin in 1994, we have continued to increase our investment and regard TEDA as one of our important bases in China. We are grateful to the local government for always providing Nestlé with such an excellent business and investment environment. In the spirit of Nestlé’s ’Creating Shared Value’ principle, we expect these projects to boost sustainable economic development in local communities by driving food manufacturing expansion and product innovation.”

Zheng Weiming, party secretary and director of the Administrative Commission of TEDA, said, “Nestlé is a world-leading food company. Over the past 25 years, Nestlé has been continuously making investments in Tianjin city, effectively boosting local economic growth and driving the overall development of the local food industry. Since the Covid-19 epidemic in China, Nestlé has actively responded to the government’s call to promote economic development and continued to increase its investment and expand production in Tianjin.”

With the rapid pace of urbanization in China, pet ownership has been a trend and is becoming increasingly popular not only in top tier cities but also across low-tier and rural areas. Viewing this trend as a significant opportunity, Nestlé plans to increase further the production capacity of Nestlé Purina PetCare factory in TEDA. It will introduce production lines for brand new high value-added products, such as the Veterinary Diet and Wet Cat Food categories, to provide pets with richer and premium food options.

In recent years, the food sector has undergone a quiet revolution as people are choosing more healthy, nutritious, and environmentally friendly foods. To meet this demand, Nestlé has decided to step up its focus on the plant-based category and invest in a new production facility at TEDA. By investing more in the latest technologies to create products using plants, Nestlé will help to reduce carbon emissions. In 2019, Nestlé announced the goal of achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Nestlé continues to bring innovation to its product offerings in China. Chengzhen, a flagship wafer product series launched in 2019, has been widely welcomed by the market. With this latest project, Nestlé will increase investment in the transformation of wafer products and expand the annual production capacity to provide consumers with more diversified options for healthy leisure snacks.

Beyond the expansion of production capacity, Nestlé will also upgrade its Quality Assurance Center in Tianjin by further enhancing laboratory testing and quality monitoring services, quality assurance and laboratory capacity-building training, technical support for food safety and compliance testing, and more.

Qureshi concluded, “Having successfully managed the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic with the support of the Chinese authorities, Nestlé has decided to increase its investments in China which is another clear demonstration of our long-term commitment and confidence in the country. By launching a series of innovative products in Chinese markets, we hope to enhance people’s quality of life further and contribute to a healthier future.”