Ginko to Invest NT$1 B. to Build Contact Lens Lines in Taiwan

Taipei, Jan. 13, 2011 (CENS)--The Taiwan-based Ginko International Co., Ltd., the largest supplier of contact lens in Greater China, has decided to invest NT$1 billion in the next three years to build six manufacturing lines with maximum output of 150 million contact lenses in Taiwan, confirmed the chairman Tsai Kuo-chou.

Tsai indicated that his firm has acquired 10,000 square meters of land area in the Central Taiwan Science Park, planning to set up two production lines in each of the next three years. The firm has moved its headquarters to the park from Changhua, central Taiwan, showing determination to expand.

The firm has also spent NT$200 million to build two new lines in its factory in Jiangsu Province, eastern China to bring total production line number to six, to boost the existing capacity of 100 million contact lenses to 150 million. As Chinese consumers prefer traditional contacts rather than disposables, 95% of the factory's output is the former now, Tsai mentioned.

Noteworthy is that the firm's Chinese subsidiary Hydron has outpaced Bausch & Lomb as the largest vendor of contacts by sales in China, aiming also to lead the global market.

Already owning several glasses retailers as Formosa Optical, a leading optical retailer in Taiwan, Ginko is also expanding distribution channels. Besides boosting outlet number to 600 in Taiwan in the coming five years, the firm is also assessing the feasibility of opening Formosa Optical chain stores in Southeast Asia, like Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, Tsai mentioned.

The firm scored combined revenue of about NT$18 billion in 2010, and expects to push the figure to NT$20 billion for 2011.