Things go better in Pudong

Swire Coca-Cola is to move its Chinese headquarters from Hong Kong to the Pudong New Area.

The company, a subsidiary of Hong Kong conglomerate Swire Pacific Ltd as part of its beverage division, is one of the largest bottlers of Coca-Cola globally. In 2018, it sold 1.6 billion boxes of drinks and recorded sales revenues of HK$40 billion (US$5.1 billion).

It has chosen Pudong as its new base to better expand the domestic market by bringing more investment and deepening cooperation.

Meanwhile, Pudong government, a pioneer in the country’s reform and opening-up, will show strong support for the company’s local business by offering convenient and efficient services. Also, it will encourage the company to take part in the local development of the free trade zone and support the city’s development to become a global innovation hub.

In the first half of this year, Pudong attracted US$4.22 billion of foreign investment, up 4.1 percent from the same period of last year, which was up to 43.3 percent of the city’s total between January and June.

Over the same period, 11 regional headquarters of multinational companies have set up offices in Pudong, including technology company Apple and sporting goods retailer Decathlon, which accounted for 47.8 percent of newcomers to the city.

Also, it increased the new area’s total number of regional headquarters of multinational companies to 315.