Coca-Cola China Beverages has announced to increase investment in western Chinese cities.

Coca-Cola company, confident of the investment environment and potential in the west, would invest several hundred million yuan in building new bottling plants in southwest China's Guizhou province, and northwestern Gansu province and Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region and enlarging existing plants, said Nick J. Moore, regional manager of the company.

Coca-Cola would localize production and sales in order to create more drinks which catered for Chinese tastes, he said.

The soft drink market still has great potential in China, with its huge population, added Moore.

A latest authoritative survey conducted by Coco-Cola company showed that in 2001, Coca-Cola occupied over 50 percent of the market share in China, with extensive recognition reaching 79 percent.

To date, Coca-Cola has so far invested 1.1 billion US dollar in China, owning 24 bottling plants and employing 20,000 people.