Coca-Cola to establish its 10th factory in Turkey

Coca-Cola İçecek (CCI), which has made a $1 billion investment in Turkey over the last 10 years, has announced that it will establish a new bottling factory in Isparta, the city of roses located in the Western Mediterranean region close to the Central Aegean.

The company's CEO Burak Başarır said that Coca-Cola İçecek will come to Isparta with a $110 million investment and will employ 300 people.

Two years ago, the management of the Organized Central Zone of Isparta, where the new Coca-Cola factory will be located, lost a giant investment by Algida to Konya because they could not provide land large enough to accommodate the venture.

This time, management allocated 39.5 acres of land for the Coca-Cola investment, thus securing the $110 million investment.

Başarır said that they have 24 factories in 10 countries and the new factory in Isparta will create 300 jobs.

He also underlined that as a Turkish company, CCI continues investments as planned, saying, "After July 15, our company showed its trust in this country."

Başarır explained the reasons why CCI preferred Isparta. High-quality spring water, advantages in agriculture and its closeness to three regions (Central Anatolia, Aegean and Mediterranean) led CCI to choose Isparta as the location of its latest investment in Turkey.

CCI Turkey, of which Anadolu Group is the main shareholder, had made a $2 billion investment in the last 10 years in the Middle East, Central Asia and Pakistan.

Başarır underlined that Turkey has half of these investments.

"We are selling 26 billion glasses of beverages to up to 380 million consumers with 10,000 employees. We have confidence in the regions where we operate despite rough conditions. We will open a new factory in Faisalabad in 2018," he said.

The Isparta factory is a CCI investment that uses cutting-edge technology. Başarır noted that company will be reach up to 220 million liters on a yearly basis at full capacity.

The CCI CEO also provided information on the contribution of their investments to the Turkish economy. According to the survey conducted in association with McKinsey and Boğaziçi University, each CCI investment of TL 1 ($0.27), earns TL 6.8 for the Turkish economy. Başarır said that in line with these measures, the Isparta factory will make a TL 2.8 billion contribution to the regional economy once it starts to operate at full capacity.