Havana, November 13 (RHC)--  Cuba began marketing the first batches of disposable diapers produced by a Vietnamese company at a factory in Cuba’s Mariel Special Development Zone, the island’s biggest project aimed at attracting foreign investors.

Vietnamese firm Thai Binh Global Investment Corporation – which has been on the island for almost 20 years – built the country’s first diaper manufacturing factory in MSDZ.

With a high demand in Cuba, the disposable diapers will be available in stores belonging to state-owned retail chains CIMEX and TRD.

The factory has a production capacity of 120 million diapers and around 240 million sanitary pads a year, according to the Vietnamese firm’s General Director Vi Nguyen Phuong.

The director told the local press that the factory operates every day of the week in two 12-hour shifts to ensure this level of production.  She also revealed the company’s plans to market the products in the island’s international pharmacies and to diversify in the coming year with adult diapers and wet towels.

Until now, all disposable diapers on the island were imported, and often sold out due to high demand.

The company has plans to expand its investments in MSDZ with the construction of a detergent powder plant with a production capacity of 50,000 tons per year.

Thai Binh Investment Trading Corporation is one of the 50 businesses of 21 countries authorized by the Cuban government to operate in MSDZ, where 26 of these investments are already underway, according to official data released during the Havana International Fair last week.