Guangzhou Wanbao Electric Group and Japanese Hitachi will set up a US$23.5 million joint venture here to produce compressors.

According to an agreement signed over the weekend, Guangzhou Wanbao holds 40 per cent of the total stake in the new venture while Hitachi and its Taiwan Hitachi Co have the remaining 35 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.

Located in Qigan Town in Guangzhou's Huadu District, Guangzhou Hitachi Compressor will have an annual output of 150,000 compressors in its first three years and more than 300,000 compressors three years later.

The joint venture will start production by the end of 2004.

Zhou Qianding, general manager of Guangzhou Wanbao Group, said the venture will help build Guang-zhou into the biggest compressor production base in the southern Chinese region.

In addition to the mainland market, the compressors that Guangzhou Hitachi produces will also be sold to Southeast Asian regions, Zhou said.

Meanwhile, Wanbao Group and Hitachi will also join hands to set up a compressor research and development centre here.

Guangzhou Hitachi is the ninth Sino-foreign joint venture between Wanbao Group and its overseas partners.

In the previous years, Wanbao Group signed contracts with overseas household appliance manufacturers, including Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Matsushita and General Electric to produce compressors, refrigerators, air-conditioners and other electric appliances.

Guangzhou Wanbao Group, already the biggest compressor producer in Guangdong Province, is expected to produce over 10 million compressors this year. Its turnover would reach more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) next year, Zhou said.

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