China's leading microwave oven maker, Galanz, announced here that it will kick off operation of the new air conditioner production base Tuesday in Zhongshan, a city in south China's Guangdong province.

As a step in march towards the air conditioner market, Galanz purchased two million square meters of land in Zhongshan and began workshop construction in December 2003. When fully completed, it will become the top one air conditioner manufacturing sites in the world with annual capacity of 12 million sets.

Production will begin Tuesday at the new base with annual capacity of 6.5 million sets, said Ma Dinglian, deputy general manager of Galanz (Zhongshan) Corporation.

The company began Jan. 20 to transfer the air conditioner assembly lines out of its headquarters in the Shunde, and the whole process was completed in five days.

Liang Shaoxian, president of the Guangdong Galanz Enterprise (Group) Corporation, said earlier this month that the company sold approximate 18 million microwave ovens in 2004 including five million in China and shared 50 percent of the world market. It reported revenue of 13 billion yuan (US$1.6 million) last year.

Liang also disclosed two strategic targets for the next ten years: to further beef up the position as the largest microwave oven producer and to obtain substantial achievements in the air conditioner market.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2005)