Injection moulding equipment manufacturer Ningbo Haitian Group (Ningbo, Zhejiang / China), owned by Haitian International Holdings (Hong Kong / China; www.haitian.com), increased sales by more than 20% year-on-year to CNY 3.83 bn (around EUR 345m) in 2007. Gross profit rose slightly faster, advancing 25% to CNY 1.12 bn. Haitian generated sales of around CNY 2.5 bn in China, confirming its leading position with a market share of around one third.

Despite challenges including the state of the US economy, the strict Chinese regime and high raw material prices, Haitian’s CEO Zang Jianming believes that the company is well-positioned for further growth thanks to its new fully electric premium brand “Zhafir”, which is manufactured in Germany, and the forthcoming opening of new facilities under construction in Ningbo (scheduled for completion at end-2008) and Guangzhou (2009) – see Plasteurope.com of 17.10.2007.