Nestlé has  opened a US $136m manufacturing facility in Dubai which will be the third largest Kit Kat plant worldwide. The facility aims to serve Nestlé markets across the region, manufacturing Nestle brands such as Nido Milk and bottled water.

Yves Manghardt, chairman and CEO of Nestlé Middle East said: “With such a facility we will be able to meet the fast-rising regional demand and eventually contemplate exporting to other regions.”

Nestlé gets about a third of its revenue from emerging economies and aims to lift that to 45 per cent in the next ten years.

According to Bloomberg, Nestlé plans to invest $400m in the next three years in the Middle East, where it predicts sales will grow to US $3.3bn by 2017 from US $1.4bn in 2009. Since it was founded in 1997, Nestlé Middle East has invested more than US $400m in the region where it owns 17 factories and 37 offices, and employs more than 7,000 people. In 2009, the Nestlé business in the region contributed around $1.4bn to the group’s annual turnover. Other brands under the Nestlé umbrella in the Middle East include Nido, Cerelac, Nescafé, Maggi and Nesquik