Life is soon to get sweeter for many people in Malaysia. Hershey (HSY 0.57%) has announced that it will build a factory in there, the better to serve a growing -- and apparently chocolate-hungry -- Asian market. The plant will be located in Johor, and the company will invest around $250 million into it.
In the press release heralding the news, Hershey quoted Terence O'Day, its senior vice president and chief supply-chain officer, as saying that "consumers across Asia are discovering a range of Hershey confectionery products, and China in particular is growing faster than any other market."
The company already has a factory in China, but it is operated as a joint venture.
The Malaysia factory will be the largest investment in Hershey's 18 years of involvement with the Asian market. The company expects to complete the plant in early 2015.
At the end of its most recently reported quarter, Hershey had $568 million in cash and cash equivalents.
