German machinery maker Lemken has become the latest European company to set up a manufacturing plant in China.

Over the past five years a host of mainstream agriculture machinery brands have been tempted to the Far East by the lure of big subsidies from the Chinese government.

In return, the European companies are investing big bucks – €9m in the case of Lemken – into Chinese production facilities.

The other big carrot for migrating European manufacturers is the investment aids offered to Chinese farmers – these encourage them to buy modern, locally-made equipment to try to stimulate the machinery market.

Lemken’s assembly plant is in Qingdao, a big port city on the north-east coast of China and directly west of South Korea.

It bolts together component parts for blue-painted disc harrows, mounted reversible ploughs and other cultivators shipped over from its base in Alpen, Germany.

Lemken’s history in China can be tracked back to 1995 when it started selling machinery in partnership with local farm machinery brands. It then set up its own distribution company in 2009 before beginning work on its new assembly plant in 2012.