(Yicai Global) June 5 -- Boton Technology, a Chinese supplier of industrial bulk-cargo conveying equipment and systems, plans to build a digitized conveyor belt plant in Thailand to meet demand from overseas clients. The firm’s shares rose.

Boton will invest CNY630 million (USD88.5 million) or equivalent in Thai baht to set up an affiliate company in Thailand that will oversee the investment, construction, and operation of the plant, the Wuxi-based firm announced on June 2.

Boton’s digitized conveyor belt production facility is working at full capacity because of strong demand, senior executives told investors at the beginning of the year.

Boton’s shares [SHE: 300031] closed 2.7 percent higher at CNY30.66 (USD4.31) each today, after earlier gaining by as much as 5.2 percent.

The Thai unit will make and sell high-performance conveyor belts and provide related services, Boton noted, without disclosing any further details such as the investment amount, construction timetable, and annual output capacity of the plant.

The project will take advantage of Thailand’s abundant supply of raw materials and enhance Boton’s ability to respond to overseas clients’ needs and help the firm effectively cut operating costs and build a globalized supply chain, it added.

Smart conveying equipment and solutions for the bulk cargo transport business accounts for about a half of Boton’s revenue. According to its 2022 earnings report, it had supplied a total of 500 kilometers of conveyor belts to Rio Tinto’s mining projects globally as of the end of last year. Boton is also the long-term supplier to BHP Billiton for its iron ore, coal, copper, and nickel ore mines.

Editor: Futura Costaglione