Asahi Glass To Spend $54m To Build 2nd China Plant

Date: 16 October 2006

Yahoo.com reported that Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. , Japan's biggest glass maker, said on Thursday it planned to invest 6.5 billion yen ($54.3 million) to build a second automotive glass plant in China to supply Japanese car makers that are boosting production there.

The plant in Guangdong province will start production in early 2008, with annual production capacity capable of outfitting 1 million vehicles, the company said in a statement.

Together with its first Chinese plant in northern Hebei province, the company said its overall production capacity of automotive glass would be enough to outfit 2.2 million vehicles a year, about 40 percent of China's total annual output.

Asahi Glass spokesman Yoshihiko Saito said Toyota Motor Corp. , Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. would be the main clients of the new plant as they are setting up operations in the city of Guangzhou.

Asahi Glass expects automobile production in southern China to triple by 2010 and aims to grab about 30 percent of the overall Chinese market, Saito added.

The company has about a 30 percent share of the global automotive glass market.

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