Vaillant Group, which has the largest share of the global wall-hung boiler market at 22 percent, recently began operation at its new manufacturing site in Wuxi, a city near Shanghai, to meet growing demand for clean-energy heating.

The construction boom in China's major cities and its promotion of clean and renewable fuels has seen an influx of foreign heating service providers and mounting rivalry in the sector.

According to Claes Goransson, managing director of the group, the firm injected about 100 million yuan into its new plant.

The factory, located in Wuxi's new district in the national development zone, covers an area of 10,000 square meters, with 1,500 square meters of office space.

In addition to producing wall-hung boilers, a natural gas-driven heating appliance, the plant also houses a research and development and training center, and a purchasing department.

"A few years ago, we began to sell heating products to the northern part of China, which is much colder," said Michael Bremicker, president and CEO of Vaillant Asia-Pacific.

"Now we are investing a lot of money to develop the central and eastern parts of this market, beginning with Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui, as well as the central provinces."

                                                                        (China Daily 01/25/2007 page14)

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