German chemical giant BASF launched the first plant at its new Zhanjiang Verbund site in the port city of Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, on Tuesday, making a milestone in the speeding up of comprehensive construction within the mega project. The new plant will produce 60,000 metric tons of engineering plastic compounds per year for customers in China, bringing BASF"s total annual capacity of engineering plastics in the Asia-Pacific to 420,000 metric tons by 2023. The new plant will enable BASF to meet growing demand from customers, particularly in the automotive and electronics industries. "It is an exciting start for our Zhanjiang

The first China manufacturing site of Illumina, a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, commenced operations recently. Located in Shanghai, the facility is aimed at catering to the fast-growing demands for biotech solutions from the world's most populous market. The new facility, which will receive 500 million yuan ($78 million) in investments over the next three to five years, is the company's third global production center after the United States and Singapore. "Our new manufacturing site in China signifies Illumina's commitment to the country's life sciences and genetic industry," said Li Qing, senior vice president of Illumina and

The Haikou duty-free shopping complex project, covering a total construction area of about 926,000 square meters, is expected to officially open this year. With a total investment of about 12.86 billion yuan ($2.02 billion), the complex integrates shopping malls, star-rated hotels, high-end offices, residences and large businesses.