Construction on a 530 million yuan (US$64.08 million) compact disc (CD) production base began Saturday in Guilin City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Located inside the state-level Guilin High-tech Development Zone, the Guilin Hongrui CD Production Base will boast 45 production lines for blank discs and recreational CD and VCD products. Planned to go into operation in the second half of 2005, the base is expected to register sales of 480 million yuan (US$58.04 million) and exports of US$29 million annually.

The CD industry has developed rapidly in China in the past 15 years. The market demand for CDs, including computer CDs and recreational CDs, stands at 3 billion in China, compared with the current production capacity of 1.7 billion CDs in the country.

Hongrui Investment Company of Guangdong Province, which funded the CD base, is a large enterprise engaged in auto manufacturing and sales, CD production, ocean shipping, catering and garment manufacturing. It registered an output value of 2.7 billion yuan (about US$326 million) last year.