Australian vitamin-maker to build Shanghai R&D center

After six years in the Chinese market and strong recent performance, Australian health supplements maker Blackmores Ltd is building its first overseas research and development center in Shanghai, with an investment of millions of Australian dollars.

The center, part of the company's Blackmores Institute, is expected to open within the next 12 months and will be developing products exclusively for the Chinese market, the Sydney-headquartered company said.

"The Chinese market is our biggest and most important international market, which is approaching 40 percent of our total scale," said Stephen Chapman, the company's chairman, while visiting Shanghai for its global board meeting last week.