NGK Ceramics Suzhou Co., Ltd., the manufacturing subsidiary of Japanese ceramics company NGK Insulators, started the trial operation of its second plant in Suzhou New District on June 23.

With an investment of 3 billion yuan, the new plant for gasoline particulate filters (GPFs) used in vehicles with gasoline engines to filter out particulate matter covers an area of 109 mu and will generate an annual output value of 5 billion yuan, making it the largest in GPFs production in the world.

NGK Ceramics Suzhou was established in 2001 as a production base for ceramic products for automotive exhaust gas purification in China. It has maintained a steady growth over 19 years and the sales reached 2.4 billion yuan in last year, with tax contribution of 130 million yuan.

In the first quarter of the year, the company’s output value climbed 21 percent year on year to reach 540 million yuan, one of the most resilient companies in Suzhou New District despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, the district has also introduced measure to support companies to get through the difficulties, such as exempting or reducing insurance premiums and providing incentives to keep jobs stable.

Suzhou has been a key hub of foreign investment. From January to April, Suzhou New District reported the new total contracted foreign investment of $358 million, up 19.81 year on year, and the paid-in investment during the period rose 182.9 percent year on year to hit $593 million.

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