French construction giant Lafarge, the world's largest cement maker, plans to double its investments in China in the coming years, the company's chairman said on Wednesday.

Bruno Lafont told Xinhua that Lafarge had settled in China for ten years and half of the group's cement production was made in China, which has exceeded the United States to become Lafarge's first biggest cement producer in the world.

Lafarge now operates in four provinces in southwest China��s Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan and Guizhou, where Lafarge's current production capacity in cement amounts to 20 million tons against the region's total annual production of 100 million tons per year. According to Mr. Lafont, the group plans to establish new factories in neighboring provinces in a bid to double its production capacity in five or six years and prove it would be the best in China as it did elsewhere.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Lafont said that the group's net profit reached 548 million euros (702 million U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2006, compared to 359 million euros (450 million U.S. dollars) in the same period last year.

Its first-half turnover totaled 8.76 billion euros (11.22 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 21 percent, compared to the same period last year.

The group's operating profit in the first half of 2006 surged 41 percent to 1.17 billion euros (1.50 billion U.S. dollars), with operating profit in cement division rising by 34 percent to 871 million euros (1.115 billion U.S. dollars).

In the granulates and concrete sector, the profit went up by 74 percent to 188 million euros (240.8 million U.S. dollars), and that in roofing rose by 54 percent to 37 million euros (28.9 million U.S. dollars) and in plaster and plasterboard by 39 percent to 110 million euros (140.8 million U.S. dollars), according to a statement of the company.

The profit was achieved due to "significant sales price increases" which had made up for "the big increase in energy and transportation costs".

Lafont said the group also revised its yearly growth rate in 2006-2008 period to 10 percent from the previous 8 percent.

Source: Xinhua