Schott AG to increase production capacity in China

Schott AG, the German producer of specialty glass and supplier of pharmaceutical packaging, will ramp up its production capacity in China to meet growing demand, its top executive said on Monday during the ongoing China International Import Expo (CIIE).

Frank Heinricht, CEO and chairman of the management board of Schott AG, announced that the company will invest 320 million euros ($380.32 million) globally in the 2020 financial year, the highest amount in the company's history. He explained that the investment will be largely used to expand the company's capacity in China.

A three-time participant of the expo, Schott AG's booth at this year's expo measures 216 square meters, about twice as large as last year's.

Heinricht said that the import fair has injected new impetus into economic prosperity for China as well as the rest of the world, accelerated global technological innovation and promoted economic trade.

Owing to China's fast pace of industrial upgrading and urbanization, the German company's sales revenue grew by 11 percent year-on-year to over 261 million euros in its 2019 fiscal year. China is expected to become the German company's most important market by 2025.

Eager to increase its market share in China, Schott began building its first greenfield project in Jinyun, Zhejiang Province last year.

Heinricht said that the facility - a 457-million-yuan ($69.14 million) pharmaceutical glass tubing plant – will become operational soon. The plant will be able to produce around 20,000 metric tons of specialty glass annually. This would translate to 4 billion vials.

"We are setting this up not only for COVID-19 vaccines, and also for other pharmaceutical ingredients," said Heinricht, noting that the company plans to achieve a double-digit annual growth rate in China during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

With the arrival of the 5G era in China in 2019, Schott started running a research and development center for the Asia Pacific in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. This center is presently supporting its local partners in the development of various innovational projects that range from 5G communication to high quality cover glass to sensors for 5G smartphones and autonomous driving.