A ?17m food packaging plant in Novy Bydzov in the Czech Republic is being built by Alcan Packaging began.

The state-of-the-art flexible packaging facility for the company's Alcan Packaging Food Europe business unit is its second plant in the Central European country aimed at the food sector in Eastern Europe.

Alcan opened a polypropylene packaging production unit in Skrivany in 1997.

Paris-based Alcan Packaging's newest Czech operation will start to produce and print by rotogravure a range of high quality flexible packaging from the fourth quarter of next year.

In the plant's initial phase of development, the Novy Bydzov unit is expected to employ 100 people.

Alcan Packaging Food Europe president, Michael Cronin, said: "The Central European packaging market is strategically important and represents an attractive growth opportunity for Alcan Packaging."

He added: "This investment expands our presence in the Czech Republic and we intend to continue building on our local team's expertise to surpass customer needs with high quality products."

Alcan Packaging Food Europe recorded annual sales in 2007 worth $2.3bn. It employs 7,300 at 31 plants in 18 countries. It has other Eastern European plants in Zlotow, Poland and Moscow, Russia.