Saint-Gobain opens 54th plant in China

Saint-Gobain SA, the French industrial conglomerate, opened its 54th plant in China, in Yangzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, on Monday to meet the country's soaring demand for new plaster products.

This factory will produce the latest generation of gypsum-based plasters for the local construction market. By partnering with a large number of power generation plants in Yangzhou, it has secured from them stable production material supplies - desulfurized gypsum -- to achieve green manufacturing.

With an annual capacity of 350,000 metric tons, the new site complies with the highest standards in term of industrial performance, safety and environmental protection. The total investment for this project is 25 million euros (195.69 million yuan).

Apart from the surging market demand for new plaster in China's eastern region, Yangzhou's location is fairly convenient for us to ship our gypsum products to clients in other provinces and regions along the Yangtze River via water transport, said Javier Gimeno, group senior vice-president and CEO of the company's Asia-Pacific operations.

Yangzhou is located in the central part of Jiangsu province, at the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It is an important node city in the economic circle of the Yangtze River Delta, and has important commercial ports, according to information from Jiangsu's department of commerce.

Saint-Gobain has made considerable progress in China thanks to Chinese economic reform over the past few decades, said Gimeno, adding the current development of the international circulation means that the open markets and business environment optimization add more confidence to the company's future growth in the country.

Eager to further expand its manufacturing capacity, Saint-Gobain plans to invest another 25 million euros to build the second phase for its gypsum factory, with the construction work likely to start by the end of this year.

"As the Chinese market enters a high-quality development stage and market potential continues to be tapped, companies in China will get broader access to the market and new development opportunities. We will seize this opportunity to allow consumers to share in a safer, smarter and sustainable future," said Gimeno.

Paul Sheng, CEO of Saint-Gobain China, said the new plant's production method has not only resolved the issue of solid waste for power plants, but also promoted the coordinated development that balances high-quality economic growth and high-level ecological and environmental protection, since the reduction of emissions, innovations in the use of resources, the reorganization of supply chains, and new production methods have all become decisive competitive factors.

"With China calling for more investment in green transformation to fulfill its pledge to achieve peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, we will continue to adjust the whole industry chain to make efforts on sustainable development, from sustainable materials to factory production," he added.