(Yicai Global) May 20 -- China Jushi, a leading Chinese fiberglass products maker, started operating its first facility in the US two days ago after increasing the plant's annual output capacity 20 percent because of higher US trade duties.

Located in South Carolina, the plant has a 96,000-ton production line, the Zhejiang province-based company said in a statement yesterday. Construction began in late 2016 with a plan for an 80,000-ton factory.

As the project neared completion, Jushi and its partners decided last October to lift both their investment and the plant's production capacity. Total investment in the project now stands at USD347.5 million, up from an initial USD297.5 million. It is the firm's second plant operating overseas after one in Egypt.

The company cited higher US tariffs on Chinese-made fiberglass amid the ongoing China-US trade conflict for the decision to expand the plant. The Trump administration has raised the levy to 17 percent. The tariff on platinum-rhodium alloy brushing plates, a vital device for fiberglass production, was increased to 10 percent.

China Jushi also added the production of brushing plates at the South Carolina facility to cut costs and make better use of local market opportunities due to the higher tariff trading environment, it added.