BEIJING, November 16 (TMTPOST) — Starbucks China kicked off the construction of its Coffee Innovation Park on Monday in Kunshan, Jiangsu province. Starbucks announced that it would increase its investment in the project to RMB 1.1 billlion (US$156 million). The innovation park is Starbucks' biggest production investment outside of the U.S. A coffee roasting plant, one of the key projects in the innovation park, was scheduled to be under construction in the second half of 2020. The constructon of the plant is expected to be completed and operations will commence in the summer of 2022. Starbucks currently has six coffee roasting plants around the world, with five located in the U.S. and one in the Netherlands. The plant in Kunshan will be Starbucks' first coffee roasting base in Asia Pacific.