USA: Morinaga to build $130 million facility in North Carolina

Japanese confectionery firm Morinaga has announced plans to invest $130 million to build a new manufacturing facility in Mebane (NC).

Spanning an area of 132,633 sq ft, the new facility will become the company’s second in North America and is projected to create 200 jobs. The new facility is intended to boost production capacity for Hi-Chew products to meet growing demand.

The existing North Carolina plant, operational since 2015, manufactures over 2 billion fruit sweets for the North American market.

Commenting on the move, Morinaga America president and CEO Teruhiro Kawabe said: “Hi-Chew has been steadfast in growing its market share in the US non-chocolate candy category and has achieved 20% year-over-year growth since 2018. With this tremendous brand growth year over year, we are eager to maximise our production output to continue providing new, innovative Hi-Chew products to consumers and brand fans nationwide”.

The new site is scheduled to begin construction in October and is expected to be operational by early 2027.

Source: Morinaga (via PRNewswire)