The plant will be located in Mantsala in south west Finland, 60km north of Helsinki. It represents an investment of £68m over three years and forms part of Rexam’s current capital investment plans. When completed, it will have two lines and a capacity of approximately 1.35bn 330ml and 500ml aluminium cans. The first line is expected to be operational by the start of 2013 while the second line is planned for start up in January 2014.

According to Rexam, the Nordic market has shown “good growth” in recent years and Finland itself has experienced a steady transition from glass bottles to can fillings. The company said that n the last five years, the beverage can’s share of the pack mix for beer in Finland, for example, has grown from just above 10% to more than 60%.