Nippon Paper Industries is making plans to enter the Chinese diaper market, according to a report published on Nikkei Asian Review. The Japanese company is negotiating with several local concerns and expects to begin supplying diapers to China as an original equipment manufacturer as early as April 2017 from an expanded plant in Japan.

Interest in the Chinese diaper market has been increasing as the country has changed its child bearing policy to allow couples to have two children.This shift has improved the prospects of the Chinese dipaer market, particularly in comparison to the Jpaanese market where a low birth rate has forced domestic and foreign diaper makers to  battle for marketshare.

Nippon Paper’s new facility at its Kyoto plant in Fukuchiyama will make diapers for babies and incontinence products for older adults. The new lines, which will be complete in the middle of next year, will be able to make nearly 100 million pieces per year. The company is investing about $42 million in the project and is hoping to double its healthcare division sales to ¥20 billion by 2017.

High quality, foreign-made diaper are in high demand in China. Japan’s Kao and Unicharm and well as U.S.-based Procter & Gamble have all had considerable success. Meanwhile, investments keep coming. Japan’s Oji Holdings is prepping to expand its presence there with a new Japanese site that will start operations in March and is expected to be mainly used for Chinese exports while Kao plans to spend ¥30 billion over the next two to three years to boost production mainly of its Merries diapers.