Crown Holdings, Inc. announced that its subsidiary, CROWN Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd., plans to build a new beverage can plant in Hangzhou, China.

Hangzhou is a city located in the Yangtze River Delta in the People's Republic of China. It is located about 120 miles southwest of Shanghai and is the capital of the Zhejiang province. This ancient city was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty and has become a modern and vibrant economical center with a population of approximately 7 million people. Zhejiang province has a population of approximately 50 million people.

The new plant in Hangzhou will be sized to accommodate multiple can lines and will have an initial annual production capacity of approximately 600 million 2-piece, 33cl aluminum beverage cans. Capabilities to make other can sizes will be incorporated in the design. Production is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2011.

"Demand for two-piece beverage cans is growing in China and we expect that more customers will decide to make the transition from three-piece to two-piece beverage cans to lower their costs and enhance the quality of their beverage packaging," said Jozef Salaerts, President of Crown's Asia-Pacific Division. "China is an important market for us and we are pleased to expand our capacity with a fifth plant to meet our customers' increased demand."

SOURCE: Crown Holdings

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