German glass group Schott's new plant officially opens in Jinyun county on June 29. [Photo/WeChat account: jinyunfabu001]

The inauguration ceremony for a plant operated by Schott AG – the German multinational glass manufacturer's first glass tubing factory in the country – was held on June 29 in Jinyun county, Lishui city, East China's Zhejiang province.

"The new Schott glass tube factory is our largest investment in China and it is also the first time that we have introduced the core technology of glass melting to China," said Frank Heinricht, CEO of Schott.

The factory, which costs $71 million, is equipped with advanced quality inspection technology and the annual output of the first-phase is projected to be 20,000 tons of glass tubing.

China currently uses billions of medicine packs and containers with glass tubes made by Schott each year. The new factory will reportedly provide a more efficient and fast supply chain through localized production and better serve the Chinese pharmaceuticals industry.

Jiang Qiong, sales and marketing director of Schott AG China, said that the Jinyun factory would help alleviate the current shortage of vaccine bottles and provide more support for the world's moves to counter the COVID-19 outbreak and other epidemics.