Hunan province-based heavy machinery maker Sany Group broke ground on its Southern Africa Headquarters Development Project in Johannesburg as its latest effort to strengthen cooperation and trade ties with South Africa.

With an investment of 300 million South African rand ($16 million), the project serves as a regional manufacturing center, logistic center and talent cultivation center. After completion within one year, it is estimated to produce 1,000 units of excavators and other construction machinery equipment annually.

The group started business in South Africa in 2005. This year, the group's sales revenue in its subsidiary in South Africa is estimated to reach 800 million yuan ($111.9 million). Within the 18-year development in the country, Sany almost participated in all of the local major infrastructure construction projects.

In 2013, the Kusile power plant - Africa's largest thermal power plant project - adopted 60 units of Sany equipment during the whole construction process. Among them, the Sany 750-metric-ton and 630-ton crawler cranes stood out from numerous international brands, undertaking the most critical lifting work of thermal power plants - a major breakthrough for Chinese domestic cranes exported to Africa.

On Nov 17, the First BRICS PartNIR Innovation Center Enterprise Forum was held in Xiamen, Fujian province. During the forum, Xiang Wenbo, Party secretary and rotating chairman of Sany Group, and chairman of Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd, said: "BRICS cooperation injects more certainty, stability and positive energy into the world through high-quality partnerships."

To grasp opportunities, Sany has implemented its global, low-carbon and digital transformation strategies, among which globalization is the top priority.

Data from the group showed that, in 2022, Sany sold 14,500 units of equipment to BRICS countries, with a sales revenue of over 13 billion yuan.

In the first three quarters of this year, it sold another 14,500 units in BRICS countries. Its sales revenue of over 14 billion yuan already surpassed that of last year, accounting for around 40 percent of its total overseas sales in the same period, data from Sany showed.