Today I am absolutely thrilled to announce one of the biggest economic development deals in our city’s history!
Feihe International has selected Kingston as their Canadian base of operations, investing an enormous $225 million in Kingston! With this investment Feihe will be opening a state-of-the-art 300,000 square foot processing and research and development (R&D) facility on 40 acres of land in the Cataraqui Estates Business Park, located in our west end.
Feihe International is a China based producer of infant formula, known for their technologically advanced manufacturing facilities producing high quality infant formula for North America and Chinese markets. Once constructed, their processing and R&D facility will create 200-250 good paying manufacturing and research jobs in our community. In addition, we expect that over 1000 indirect jobs will be created through the economic impact of their operation here in Kingston. And this impact will extend well beyond Kingston into the entire Eastern Ontario region, as Feihe plans to establish an entire local supply chain of dairy and goat milk producers.
To help put this news into perspective, this represents one of the largest foreign direct investments in Canada, and it is happening right here in Kingston. I especially want to thank and congratulate KEDCO on their tremendous work over the last number of months bringing this deal to Kingston. KEDCO and city staff were instrumental in showcasing why Kingston was the right choice for Feihe International.
Right now the plan is to have a shovel in the ground by next spring, which alone will create 400 construction jobs over the next 2 years as Feihe’s facility is constructed. I look forward to building relationships with our new Chinese business partners and friends, so that we can explore further economic development opportunities from China and help put Kingston on the map globally!