São Paulo—After falling behind Haitian as the No. 1 Chinese supplier of injection molding machines, Chen Hsong has a plan to recapture the top spot, and it starts in Brazil. The Hong Kong headquartered business will open its first branch outside of China in Brazil, with two locations: one support office with sales, after sales, and spare parts, and a 1200-sq-m site that will initially stock at least 50 machines.

Luis Guerra, commercial manager, said at this time there are only two employees, but the company is planning to open in one month's time with 10, recruiting Brazilians familiar with the local market.

Chen Hsong

Guerra said that as Chen Hsong reviewed the results of Haitian it saw that increasingly the Ningbo-based rival was continuously expanding its reach and sales outside of China, while Chen Hsong had remained too reliant on the domestic Chinese market. "[Chen Hsong] saw that nowadays, Haitian's overseas participation is a big part of its sales," Guerra said.

Chen Hsong is already established in the Brazilian market with more than 1000 machines installed, with most of those above 1000 tonnes, according to Guerra. The top two markets locally for the company are automotive and a sector it calls domestic utilities that includes things like baskets, garbage pails, etc. The company was already expanding that presence at the Feiplastic show, having sold 15 presses when it spoke with PlasticsToday, and the expectation of 20 or 25 sales by the close of the show on May 24.

"The plastics market in Brazil is rising," Guerra said, "so let's hope it helps us. Packaging is great; automotive is recovering; so let's see. Let's see."

This branch will serve all of South America, with more overseas outlets to come, although at this time, Guerra couldn't say where Chen Hsong will establish a presence next. Within Brazil, the goal is to be number two in total injection molding machine sales in three years.

"We have just one direction," Guerra said. "Go to market."

At Feiplastic, the company showed three injection molding machines: a small 35-tonne unit, a 178-tonne press, and a large 650-tonne machine, with all the hydraulic presses utilizing servodriven hydraulic pumps.