Mexico City - Grupo Modelo, best known as the maker of Corona beer, announced Friday it will invest another 2.8 billion pesos (US $182 million) in the state of Yucatán for a factory to manufacture aluminum cans.

This investment is in addition to the 2.2 billion pesos (US $150 million) to be invested in Yucatán for a new Montejo beer production facility, which was announced in January. The brewery will be Grupo Modelo's eighth in Mexico. Construction is set to begin in the middle of this year, with completion expected by the end of 2016.

The new factory will provide cans for its new brewery in Yucatán, as well as its other operations in Mexico and abroad. With a capacity of producing 1 billion cans a year, the factory will enable the beer maker to trim production costs and improve competitiveness by providing cans at a lower price than it now pays, Grupo Modelo CEO Ricardo Tadeu said.

Both it and the new brewery will be built in the municipality of Hunucmá, about 17 kilometers from Mérida, and employ more than 500 people. Both are expected to begin operations in 2017.

The announcement was made at an official ceremony at Los Pinos with President Peña Nieto, who observed that Mexico is now the sixth largest producer of beer in the world and the No. 1 exporter of the product. Exports totaled 1.7 billion liters last year, worth more than US $1.6 billion, the president said.