Swiss-based Nestle S.A's pet food plant in Tianjin Municipality in north China began operating on Friday.

Nestle invested 80 million yuan (10.26 million U.S. dollars) in the plant and it has an annual production ability of 20,000 tons. It is the company's first pet food plant in China.

The plant will use local-purchased raw materials including bean, corn and wheat. Its products will be sold in supermarkets, pet clinics and pet shops.

According to statistics with the China Food Association, the value of pet-food sale in China is expected to reach six billion yuan (769 million U.S. dollars) in 2008 and the figure will top 15billion yuan (1.92 billion U.S. dollars) in five years.