Nestle expands manufacturing presence
Global food conglomerate Nestle on Tuesday opened two new factories focused on health in Taizhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province, adding to its business in the Chinese market.
With investment of more than 1 billion yuan ($158 million) and covering 200 mu (13.4 hectares), the facilities of Nestle Health Sciences and Galderma will provide consumers with access to foods for special medical purposes (FSMP) and skin care products, respectively.
Nestle Health Sciences is a subsidiary of Nestle, and Galderma is the medical solutions business within Nestle Skin Health.
Rules for the registration of FSMP items were announced and implemented in China in 2016 to standardize the industry and provide an environment for its sound growth.
Gu Xinxin, regional business head of Nestle Health Sciences China, told a press conference that before the registration system was launched, these products had entered the Chinese market as drugs, and it had taken time for the transition.
“The country’s regulation in the sector is an important signal of opening it and a big move for the Healthy China 2030 initiative,” Gu noted.
“The FSMP industry is expected to be a new blue ocean for China’s health industry,” Liu Xuecong, secretary-general of the China Nutritional and Health Food Association, said at the inauguration ceremony.
Given the rich clinical application of FSMP in developed economies such as the US and Europe in recent decades, having such factories in China will strengthen the country’s development in the health and nutrition sector.
Starting from such fast-moving consumer goods as coffee, milk and candy, Switzerland-based Nestle is trying to broaden its footprint in China, its secondlargest market after the US.
“Throughout China’s rapid economic development, we’ve witnessed many opportunities. Chinese consumers have become more farsighted and choosy. They’re pursuing nutritious, healthy and high-end products and the upgrading speed is very fast,” said Rashid Qureshi, chairman and CEO of Nestle China.
Including the new facilities in Taizhou, the multinational now owns 33 factories in China with about 50,000 employees.