China-Africa Development Fund, Hisense Opens New Industrial Park in South Africa

QINGDAO, China, June 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 6th, Hisense officially opened its new Home Appliances Industrial Park in Atlantis, a town in Western Cape, South Africa. The 100,000-square-meter industrial park located 40 kilometers from the port of Cape Town is the most important electronics and home appliance production base in South Africa. As a joint project between Hisense and the China-Africa Development Fund, the new park will have an annual production capacity of 400,000 TVs and 400,000 refrigerators. The base is designed for producing energy-saving refrigerators, Smart 3D HDTVs, and other high-end and eco-friendly products for the South African market as well as more than 30 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, including Angola, Ghana, and Congo. The new base is expected to create about 600 direct jobs and an estimated 2,000 indirect opportunities in the supporting parts and logistics sectors.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130608/CN27486 )

The new industrial park will give Hisense a higher brand influence across the region. Founded in 1994, Hisense South Africa has grown into the largest LED TV manufacturer in the country with a market share of 25 percent. In addition, its market share of refrigerators is now 14 percent. The sales growth for Hisense has stood at 50 percent from 2010 to 2012 consecutively. Hisense products can be seen in many large-scale local chain stores, including HiFi, Game, Dion, and others.

The South African government attaches great importance to Hisense's consistent and steady development in the local area. At the opening ceremony, speeches were made by the South African Minister of Economic Development, Vice Foreign Minister, Western Cape Province's governor, several mayors, together with the China-African Development Fund vice president and project investors. The Minister of Economic Development promised maximum support for Hisense's development in South Africa. Jerry Liu, General Manager of Hisense's South Africa subsidiary, shared that during the last few decades, Hisense has continuously implemented aid projects for welfare institutions including orphanages, children's hospitals, and assisted living facilities for seniors, as well as providing donations and scholarships to schools in disadvantaged areas. Hisense has established an electronics technology research and development training base in Atlantis for a large number of local professional technicians. These actions have been warmly welcomed by the local community and government.