Kervan USA will open a $20 million packaging and manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley.

The company currently has its U.S. headquarters in Whitehall Township, Pa., which is in the Lehigh Valley, and packaging and distribution locations in New Jersey. It will consolidate those operations and add manufacturing at a 90,000-sq.-ft. building that is under construction in Pennsylvania’s Lower Nazareth and Bethlehem townships, which is expected to be open next year. Plans call for about 40 employees to be hired, bringing Kervan USA’s Lehigh Valley workforce to about 50.

“This location made perfect sense, both (in its) proximity to the ports and the workforce,” says Gokhan Kacmaz, chief financial officer of Kervan USA. “We saw a big opportunity. All this made the Lehigh Valley a great location to make this investment.”

Kervan USA CEO Burak Cezik said the Lehigh Valley’s population growth to more than 708,000 was another factor. “This area is booming,” he says. Kervan’s executives said that the cost to locate in the Lehigh Valley compared to New Jersey was another advantage.

Food and beverage companies operating in the Lehigh Valley include global brands, such as Coca-Cola, Boston Beer, Ocean Spray, Keurig Dr Pepper, Freshpet, Bimbo Bakeries and Bakerly/Norac Foods, and smaller producers, such as Kervan USA, The Granola Factory and Mishka Vodka. Employment in food and beverage production in the Lehigh Valley has increased by about 52% in the last decade, to approximately 7,100. Nearly half of all dog and cat food production jobs in Pennsylvania are in the Lehigh Valley.

Manufacturing is a driver of the region’s economy, with more than 700 manufacturers collectively producing an annual output of $9 billion. That makes up 16% of the Lehigh Valley’s Gross Domestic Product, which is nearly $56 billion.

International manufacturers, such as Kervan USA, play a role. The Lehigh Valley has more than 100 international companies, including the U.S. headquarters for Olympus Corporation of the Americas (Japan) and B. Braun Medical (Germany). It is also home to the operations of global companies, like Mack Trucks (Sweden), Evonik (Germany) and Air Liquide (France).

Kervan manufactures more than 200 candy varieties under the Bebeto and Yumy Yumy brands in Turkey, Poland and Egypt. It plans to import them to the Lehigh Valley location through the port in Newark, N.J., and then package them for distribution. Manufacturing is anticipated to follow within a few years.

Kervan’s products are sold in stores, including Walmart, Dollar Tree, Dollar General and Trader Joe’s. The company also makes branded candy, including for Crayola, which has been based in the Lehigh Valley for more than a century.