DuPont announced it would invest over $80 million in Jiangsu province for a new specialty materials manufacturing plant during the China International Import Expo.

DuPont signed the deal with the Zhangjiagang local government during the CIIE on Thursday for a $80 million manufacturing facility, expected to become operational in 2020 and further expanded by 2023.

The new facility will be used to produce compounded high-end engineering plastics and adhesives to serve customers in transportation, electronics, industrial and consumer products markets.

"This investment reinforces our commitment to China and the Asian market, where we see strong growth potential across our businesses," said Randy Stone, president of DuPont Transportation and Advanced Polymers. "Our new manufacturing facility will position us well to support anticipated growth in the automotive sector due to strong customer demand for our advanced polymers and solutions from end users such as electric and hybrid vehicle manufacturers."

"We sincerely hope DuPont will speed up construction of the project, go into production early, and bring back return on investment as soon as possible," said Huang Ji, mayor of Zhangjiagang.