French company drives new materials industry as factories integrate with China's supply chains

A France-headquartered Global Fortune 500 company is leveraging its technical advantages to enhance the new materials industry chain in Dengfeng City, central China's Henan Province, and has expressed optimism about future development due to the city's favorable business environment.

19 years ago, Saint-Gobain, a manufacturer of a wide variety of building materials, established its first factory in Dengfeng, capitalizing on the region's transportation advantages, abundant mineral resources, and numerous upstream industrial enterprises. Today, the factory in Dengfeng is expanding by laying out new facilities and building additional production lines, achieving a total output value of 470 million yuan (approximately 66 million U.S. dollars) last year.

"We have three (factories) in Henan Province, and as always, when we come and when we invest in provinces in China, we feel a strong support from the local authorities and from the government," said Anthony Lopez, Asia-Pacific Communication Director of Saint-Gobain.

Lopez explained that the decision to establish a factory in Dengfeng was influenced by the presence of numerous car manufacturers and electric vehicle manufacturers, which are their primary clients.

"You (Henan) have a lot of car manufacturers and EV car manufacturers, so Saint-Gobain has different companies supplying those EV car-makers. So it's very important for us that we are also close to them when we established a manufacturing site," said Lopez.

Saint-Gobain produces highly wear-resistant abrasive grains from a material called corundum, which is primarily composed of alumina sourced from the local aluminum processing industry in Dengfeng.

The company's continued presence has helped to drive the local new materials industry chain in the city. In 2023, the output value of the new materials industry in Dengfeng exceeded 3 billion yuan (about 421.9 million U.S. dollars).

"Saint-Gobain is very strong on renovation and this is a very important part to become carbon neutral. If China wants to become carbon neutral, they need to renovate the houses and the building to make them more sustainable and for this we offer high performance solutions. So the future of Saint-Gobain in China, I believe, is very bright," Lopez said.

French company drives new materials industry as factories integrate with China's supply chains

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has highly commented on China's contribution to BRICS on Wednesday, calling China "the first country" and one of the main pillars of the BRICS.

In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, Lukashenko said it's a boon that China is in the BRICS and it's hard to imagine a BRICS without China.

"If you look at BRICS and China as a whole, I find it hard to imagine BRICS without China. It's the first country, to put it bluntly. Okay, second after the United States. I believe it's the first. And especially with the progress that exists today, China is definitely the first country. It's a boon when China is in the SCO or in the BRICS," he said.

"It is one of the main pillars of this organization. So, BRICS should, this organization should be happy with the cooperation with China, happy that China is in this organization. And it's a young organization. It is still developing and everything is just beginning. The world is going through turbulent processes, and it is good that such an organization exists. It seems to me that without China, it is difficult to talk about intensive development in the BRICS organization itself," said Lukashenko.

BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market cooperative mechanism that initially comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It has now evolved into an influential international cooperation mechanism with an expanded membership.

Besides the countries that officially joined the BRICS family on January 1, 2024, over other 30 countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Türkiye and Azerbaijan have either formally applied for or expressed interest in membership.

The 16th BRICS Summit from Tuesday to Thursday marks the first in-person BRICS gathering since its expansion.

Belarusian president lauds China's role in BRICS