A Chinese hemp company and a California-based CBD company are building a new plant to manufacture CBD isolate in western Kentucky.
The plant from HMI Group of Beijing and Kings Royal Biotech of Capistrano Beach, California, is expected to employ more than 100 people on nine acres in Bardwell, near the Mississippi River and just east of Missouri.
Construction on the plant began last week, The Paducah Sun reported.
Kings Royal has contracted with Kentucky farmers to raise 2,300 acres of hemp for CBD production this year.
The 75,000-square-foot facility will focus on CBD extraction and will make pharmaceutical-grade isolate, Kings Royal COO Keith Taylor told the newspaper.
Taylor said the plant could be operational by September and that overall investment in the area could approach $40 million.
The Bardwell plant is getting an enthusiastic welcome from local officials who see hemp manufacturing as a needed boost in rural western Kentucky, according to the Sun.
Democrat Julian Carroll, a former Kentucky governor who now serves in the state senate, called the project a “momentous occasion” for the region.
“I know you need advancements such as this hemp plant and the jobs you can get,” he told the Sun.
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