US snacks and beverages giant PepsiCo has announced an expansion to its snacking plant in the Brazilian town of Cabo de Santo Agostinho.

The Lay’s and Walkers crisps brands owner is to install a new production line at the site, which produces Cheetos and Cebolitos snacks for the local market.

The new line will allow the company to additionally produce its Torcida brand of snacks at the Pernambuco region site, which is near the city of Recife.

PepsiCo has not said how much it will be spending on the facility’s development which will see the site - made up of two factories - increase production capacity by around 30%.

The company, which has operated in Brazil for 70 years, said 300 new direct and indirect jobs will be created as a result of the expansion.

Work on the plant has already begun and is expected to be finished in May 2024.

Marcelo Zanetti, director of operations of PepsiCo Brazil, said: "The north-east region is strategic for PepsiCo and we have continuously invested in it. Proof of this is that our production capacity in the last four years has increased by more than 50%.”

PepsiCo, which has eight factories in Brazil, employs around 700 people in the Pernambuco region.

Last August, PepsiCo agreed to sell a clutch of biscuits assets in Brazil to local manufacturer Camil Alimentos.

Camil struck a deal to buy PepsiCo’s CIPA Industrial Food Products and CIPA Nordeste Industrial de Produtos Alimentares, inheriting factories in Aparecida de Goiânia in Goiás state and Itaporanga D’Ajuda in Sergipe, along with the two companies’ 800 employees.