Tingyi to invest in beverages as foreign competition intensifies

Tingyi (0322.HK) will continue to upgrade its factories with better technology in order to lower costs and boost output as competition in China’s beverage intensifies, Bloomberg reported. Tingyi is China’s largest producer of packaged food but US$300 million of the US$500 million earmarked for capital investment this year will go into the beverage segment, CFO Frank Lin said. “We’re preparing for future competition in the next five, 10 years when international beverage companies will be investing in the Chinese market,” Lin said. Last year Coca-Cola announced plans to invest US$2 billion in China over three years. Tingyi, which sells most of its products under the Master Kong brand, saw 2009 profit increase 47% to US$383.2 million as rising consumer spending and leisure travel drove up demand for cold drinks and instant noodles. Sales increased 19% to US$5.08 billion.