CHINA

Avon to Build $40-Million Plant: The New York-based cosmetics company said the factory will be built in Conghua in southern China by its Chinese subsidiary. Construction is expected to begin during the current quarter and production to start in early 1997. Avon Products Inc. first entered China in 1990. It had sales of slightly more than $20 million there in 1994 and expects to almost double that this year. The plant will replace Avon’s smaller-capacity leased facility in nearby Guangzhou. By year’s end, Avon said, it will have 40,000 sales representatives in the country.