Velenje - The Chinese-owned group Hisense Europe, which includes the Velenje-based maker of household appliances and TV sets Gorenje, has started building a new plant in the Serbian city of Valjevo for the production of Hisense, Gorenje, and Asko refrigerators. The EUR 40 million plant is expected to open in February 2023 and create 1000 jobs.

The new plant Valjevo 3 is projected to produce 750,000 side-by-side refrigerators a year, while the total annual output of all three Gorenje plants in Valjevo should reach EUR 1.7 million by 2025.

The refrigerators will be distributed all over Europe.

The new plant will be located next to the existing Gorenje plant. It will span 30,000 square metres and will include storage units as well as a modern canteen.

Gorenje has been present in Valjevo for 16 years and employs more than 1,600 people there. Since opening the first Valjevo plant, the company has manufactured more than 9 million refrigerators and coolers there, making more than 950,000 devices last year alone.

92% of the products have been exported to European markets, making the Valjevo Gorenje plant one of Serbia's biggest exporters.

Hisense, a leading global manufacturer of home appliances and consumer electronics, took over Gorenje in 2018.

The group continues to invest into its European manufacturing and development base. In addition to the investment in the new factory in Valjevo, significant investments were made last year to set up the Hisense Europe Electronics factory in Velenje, where Hisense TVs are produced for European markets.

This year the Hisense Europe Innovation Centre will open in Velenje, where Hisense, Gorenje and Asko appliances will be manufactured for worldwide distribution.

Hisense Europe has manufacturing facilities in Serbia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, as well as development hubs in Sweden, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia. It also owns 27 distribution companies in Europe.