Molten, the Japanese balls manufacturer, has begun test production at...

Molten, the Japanese balls manufacturer, has begun test production at a mammoth new plant in Jiaxing, China, that is supposed to reach an annual capacity of up to 5 million units in due time. The company is investing about $15 million in the factory, which should become Molten’s largest manufacturing unit and enable it to exploit the booming Chinese market. Mass production is meant to begin in about two and half years, once Molten has mastered the techniques of ball-stitching, which were previously outsourced to a myriad of subcontractors in China and other Asian countries. Molten estimates the current Chinese market at less than 10 million units, but the Japanese company believes that it could swell to 15 million units in three years.