(Yicai Global) April 14 -- Shares in Zhejiang Yongjin Metal Technology advanced today after the Chinese stainless steel supplier said it will invest USD125 million to build a second precision stainless steel factory in Vietnam to supply the local market.

Yongjin Metal’s share price [SHA:603995] was trading up 3.8 percent as of 11.30 a.m. China time today.

The new facility, which will be built in three phases, will produce 260,000 metric tons a year of two types of stainless steel bands, the Lanxi, southeastern Zhejiang province-based company said.

No mention was made of the location of the new factory nor the construction timetable, but in the firm’s financial report, released yesterday, it said building will start this quarter.

Yongjin Metal, whose clients include Midea Group, Whirlpool Corp and Sharp Global, already has a stainless steel factory in Vietnam that started production in April last year that supplies the European, North American and Southeast Asian markets.

The firm, which has four production bases in China, will start building another facility in Thailand in the fourth quarter and is planning a stainless steel processing plant in Indonesia, according to the report.

Yongjin Metal logged a 17.6 percent dive in net profit in 2022 from the year before to CNY487 million (USD71.2 million) on the surging cost of raw materials and weak demand, the report said. Revenue jumped 26.1 percent to CNY39.6 billion (USD57.9 billion).

The company’s output of stainless steel bands soared 15.9 percent to 2.474 million metric tons while sales surged 17.9 percent to 2.473 million metric tons, it said

Editor: Kim Taylor