(Yicai Global) Jan. 5 -- Lego Group will expand production capacity at its factory in China, the first the Danish toy giant opened in Asia, to meet the long-term growth of the Chinese and Asian markets.

The expansion will significantly increase potential output from the plant as it will include a new automated high-bay warehouse, a molding facility, and a building for processing Lego elements, the firm said in a statement yesterday.

The factory, located in the city of Jiaxing in the eastern province of Zhejiang, was put into operation in 2016 and has 1,200 employees.

The expansion works, which will add 42,000 square meters of built-up area, have already begun and are expected to be completed by 2024, Billund-based Lego said.

Lego announced at the end of last year that it will invest USD1 billion to build its sixth plant, the second in Asia, in Vietnam. Building is expected to start in the second half of this year and be completed in 2024, with the factory put into operation that same year.

Last month, Lego opened its 300th authorized store in the Chinese mainland. Of the 60 new outlets it opened globally in the first half of last year, two-thirds were in China. Some 291 stores out of 737 were in China as of June 30, 2021.

Lego’s profit in the first half of 2021 rose 46 percent to DKK23 billion (USD3.5 billion) from the previous year and net profit doubled to DKK6.3 billion (USD956 million).

Editor: Futura Costaglione