The French pharma firm is seeking to increase insulin production in Beijing as trade tensions between the EU and China simmer on.
Sanofi will invest around €1bn in China to build a new insulin production site in Beijing, the French firm said in a WeChat statement.
The site, which will be Sanofi’s fourth production facility in the country, is to be in an economic development zone near the capital.
The move marks Sanofi’s single biggest investment in China.
According to medical journal the Lancet, China now has the largest number of people living with diabetes worldwide, accounting for approximately one-quarter of the global diabetes population.
The aim of the new insulin factory will be to supply the local market, said Sanofi.
Sanofi chairman Frédéric Oudea travelled to China on Monday to formalise the investment, meeting Chinese Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao.
EU/China tensions
Beijing is encouraging foreign firms to establish a presence in China despite a deterioration of its relations with EU officials.
The 27-nation bloc accuses China of unfair trade practices – notably that it is flooding the EU with artificially cheap goods.
The EU argues that state-subsidised products make it difficult for European manufacturers to compete with Chinese competitors.
In a retaliatory measure, the bloc decided to increase tariffs on Chinese-built electric vehicles to as much as 45.3% in October.
Beijing, meanwhile, has announced tariffs against imports of European brandy.
The news from Sanofi comes after the firm recently opened a manufacturing site in Singapore, worth $595m (€565m).
