(Yicai Global) March 3 -- Flat Glass Group’s shares gained after the leading Chinese supplier of photovoltaic glass said it will invest CNY6 billion (USD951 million) to build six new production kilns to meet surging demand.

Flat Glass [SHA: 601865] closed 1.2 percent higher in Shanghai today at CNY49.94 (USD7.90), after earlier jumping as much as 4.6 percent. Its Hong Kong-listed stock [HKG: 6865] ended 2.2 percent up at HKD33.05 (USD4.23).

Flat Glass will build a solar glass plant in Nantong, a city near the mouth of the Yangtze River, the Jiaxing-based company said in a statement late yesterday. Each of the six kilns will have a daily production capacity of 1,200 tons.

The project will be build in two phases. The goal of the first is to complete four kilns and supporting production lines, with operations set to begin in 2023. The second phase will build the rest of the capacity and is scheduled to be ready in 2024.

The project will guarantee the capacity needed for Flat Glass to meet demand for large-sized PV modules and expand its market share, the firm said, adding that the use of large kilns can also help to reduce costs.

Flat Glass has solar glass production bases in Zhejiang province, neighboring Anhui province and Vietnam. The company said last March that it had daily production capacity of 8,600 tons of photovoltaic glass.

Flat Glass has five new PV glass kilns in Anhui that are expected to start operating this year, each with a daily output of 1,200 tons. The company invested CNY4.35 billion at the end of 2020 in the Anhui project.

Due to strong demand and rising prices, Flat Glass saw a sharp improvement in it earnings last year. Net profit more than doubled to CNY1.72 billion in the first three quarters of 2021 on a 58 percent increase in revenue to CNY6.34 billion.

Editor: Tom Litting