QCOSTARICA – Despite it’s laying off 14 people in Costa Rica due to a global restructuring, the Coca Cola Company announced Wednesday that is plans to expand its juices plant it operates in the country.
The initiative was confirmed after the Coca Cola Company CEO, Muhtar Kent and the president for the Latin America Business Unit, Alfredo Rivera, met with Costa Rica President Luis Guillermo Solís and Minister of Foreign Trade (Ministro de Comercio Exterior, in Spanish), Alexander Mora.
The Coca Cola Company, at its plant in La Uruca (San José), produces juice concentrates that are used in bottling plants for sale in different markets, including in the country.
Minister Mora explained that next week work will begin to shape the plan, which aims to generate a number of indirect jobs, especially for women in various rural areas of Costa Rica.
“The expansion will simplify the production process and we can expand the juice business,” said Gustavo Guillén, the Coca Cola Company manager of corporate affairs.
“Coca Cola is a leader in its field, with values that align well with our vision of sustainable and responsible development,” said Minister Mora.
Costa Rica is home to the Latin America Business Unit for the Coca Cola Company, responsible for the coordination of business operations in 31 countries in the region.
Coca Cola FEMSA in Costa Rica
Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V., doing business as FEMSA, is the largest beverage company in Mexico and in Latin America and as of September 2011 also the largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the world.
The company is the bottler of Coca Cola in half of Mexico, the Buenos Aires region of Argentina, São Paulo and other areas of Brazil, greater Guatemala City, Guatemala, most of Colombia, and all of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela and the Philippines.
Coca Cola FEMSA is the anchor bottler of Coca Cola and its related soft drink products in much of Latin America. The company is an important part of the Coca Cola System. Coca Cola FEMSA distributes about 10% of the worldwide production of Coca Cola products. This makes it, after Coca Cola Enterprises the second largest Coca Cola bottler in the world.
Source: Ministerio de Comercio Exterior; Elfinanciarocr.com; Wikipedia
