20 years on, German medical device company keeps expanding in China

NANCHANG -- At a medical device manufacturing facility in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province, workers are racing against the clock to complete the construction of an assembly line for their new product -- the automated blood component separator.

"If things go smoothly, we will localize the production of the separator by the end of this year," said Zhang Guangzong, general manager of Fresenius Kabi (Nanchang) Co Ltd, which is wholly owned by the German healthcare giant Fresenius.

Based in Bad Homburg, a town situated near Frankfurt in Germany, Fresenius started investing in Nanchang in 2002. Over the past 20 years, the Nanchang subsidiary has expanded four times, with the total investment reaching nearly 500 million yuan (about $72 million).

Zhang attributed the continued investments to the appeal of China's vast market, and the improvement of the industrial chain and business environment.

"It is our confidence in China's business environment and market potential that convinced us to expand investment further," said Zhang, noting that the company's active medical device orders and passive medical device orders for this year had thus far increased by 34 percent and 11 percent year on year, respectively.

He expected that total export value will surge by 10 percent in 2023, compared with that in 2022.

China will intensify efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment, according to the government work report unveiled on March 5 at the ongoing first session of the 14th National People's Congress, the national legislature.

The country will expand market access, continue to open up the modern services sector, ensure national treatment for foreign-funded companies, improve services for foreign-funded companies, and facilitate the launch of landmark foreign-funded projects, said the report.

Wang Fei, an official with the provincial department of commerce, said the department plans to guide and support local foreign trade enterprises in participating in 120 overseas trade fairs this year to help them secure more orders.