July is the dry season in Angola, and the first anniversary of Nice Group's arrival in the Atlantic coastal nation.

In July 2019, the first overseas factory of Lishui-based Nice Group broke ground in Luanda, the capital of Angola, becoming the first local Chinese-funded chemical enterprise. Eight months later, a chemical plant rose from the desert after the quickest construction effort by a Chinese enterprise in Angola.

Zhuo Ziquan, the head of the Angola factory, said that the planned production capacity of the first phase of operations is 20,000 tons of washing powder a year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production only reached half of the planned capacity. "When the second and third phases are built, it is expected to become the largest factory invested in by domestic private enterprises in Angola," said Zhuo.

To counter COVID-19, Nice Group's Diao brand produced a disinfectant which took only 20 days from research and development to production.

It takes more than three months to launch a new product on a regular basis, but Nice has strong technological reserves, so the process was fast, said Zhang Lei, who was responsible for the development of the disinfectant.

In 2019, the group's high-value-added products accounted for more than 80 percent of its output. The annual sales volume exceeds 20 billion yuan ($2.86 billion), ranking fourth in the global daily chemicals sector.

Established in 1968 and headquartered in Lishui, Zhejiang province, Nice Group is a leading enterprise in China's cleaning industry.