The launch ceremony for Dow Chemical Company’s new plant is held in the county-level city of Zhangjiagang, East China's Jiangsu province, on Jan 15. [Photo/WeChat account: zhangjiagangfabu365]

The US-funded Dow Chemical Company, a Fortune Global 500 enterprise, spent $69 million to build a new plant in the county-level city of Zhangjiagang, East China's Jiangsu province, according to an announcement at the launch ceremony held in the city on Jan 15.

Pan Guoqiang, Party chief of Zhangjiagang, said during the ceremony that Dow Chemical has been operating in the city for more than 20 years and is an important part of the city's chemical industry. The factory is expected to become a new growth engine for Zhangjiagang's high-quality development.

Pan added that Zhangjiagang has ramped up efforts to pursue innovation-driven development over the years in an effort to become a modern and vibrant economy of the Yangtze River Delta.

Zhangjiagang has already cultivated eight key industrial clusters, including new chemical materials, and the city will work to further optimize its business environment to be more market-oriented, law-based, and international, according to Pan.

The new factory is expected to produce 12,000 metric tons of organic silicon resin per year, which will help increase the company's production capacity for high value-added products.