South Korean coffee chain Ediya Coffee will inject 350 million won ($311,291) to establish a coffee bean roastery that can produce up to 6,000 tons of coffee beans annually, the company said Monday.

The roastery, called the Ediya Coffee Dream Factory, will be the company’s first coffee production facility since it was established in 2004. The roastery will be built on 12,982 square meters in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. 

The factory will have environmentally friendly roastery facilities equipped with the latest production technology, and will deliver coffee beans to some 2,600 Ediya Coffee franchise stores across the country. 

Ediya’s instant coffee powders and powdered products for noncoffee drinks will be produced in the factory as well.

The new large-scale coffee roastery will not only enhance the quality of Ediya’s coffee, but will also provide the price competitiveness it needs to take the lead in both the local and overseas coffee markets, the company said. 

Since the Korean coffee franchise entered the Chinese market in 2005, the company has been seeking to open more stores in big cities in China and Japan. 

Ediya Coffee, which focuses mostly on small shops with low-cost coffee, recorded sales of 184.1 billion won with an operating profit of 20.2 billion won in 2017. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)