FLSmidth & Co. will open a factory in the Qingdao harbour city, to the east of Beijing, at the beginning of January 2007, Danish business daily Dagbladet Boersen reported on December 29, 2006. The plant will manufacture equipment used at cement factories and two thirds of the production will be exported.

The expansion is part of FLSmidth’s efforts to stand up to the growing competition both in China and on the global market. The company has met tough competition on the Chinese market for turnkey cement plants. The Danish producer has been under pressure in the Middle East as well, Boersen said.

Nordic banking group Nordea AB evaluates the expansion as a positive signal from FLSmidth. There has been a significant demand for the company’s equipment worldwide in the last years, the bank said.