Xinxiang, China-based Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group, Inc., the world’s largest producer of copper tubing used in air conditioning, refrigeration and autos, broke ground last month on a $100-million plant in Thomasville, AL, CNNMoney reports.
The new copper tube manufacturing facility is the first Chinese owned-and-operated plant to enter the state. The 400,000-square-foot facility is expected to create 300 when it’s up and running in 2014.
Golden Dragon filed for an IPO in China last month. Raymond Cheng, CEO of Hong Kong-based consulting firm SoZo Group, helped coordinate the deal for Golden Dragon and is working with 30 large Chinese manufacturers that want a presence in the United States.
“For many of these companies, their biggest customers are in the United States,” Cheng told CNN. “It’s a tactical advantage to be next door to your biggest client.”
Chinese conglomerates, on a mission to expand their global footprint and avoid anti-dumping tariffs, are shifting more of their production to America. More Chinese manufacturers have been launching their own U.S. facilities in the last five years. The biggest investments are being made by Chinese firms with products that have been slapped with hefty anti-dumping tariffs.
Opening a plant in the United States allows Chinese producers to save on transportation and fuel costs. Golden Dragon’s Alabama facility will be next door to its largest customer, Goodman Manufacturing in Houston, said Cheng.
