Ube Industries, Japan, said Monday it will begin the production and sales of ready-mix concrete in China. The company will establish a wholly owned unit, named Nantong Ube Concrete Co., in Nantong, Jiangsu Province by the end of this month and start construction of a plant within the current fiscal 2005.
The plant, scheduled to become operational in fiscal 2006, will have an annual production capacity of 600,000 cubic meters of concrete. Sales are expected to reach 1.4 billion yen in fiscal 2006.
The company chose Nantong as its first foothold in China because the penetration rate for ready-mix concrete is still relatively low and there are many Japanese firms operating in the city. Ube Industries also holds equity stakes in a Singaporean ready-mix concrete company and a Chinese cement firm, but it is launching its own cement-related operations overseas for the first time ever.
