Morgan Advanced Materials, a leading engineering company based in the United Kingdom, will expand its business from iron and steel to technology-demanding sectors in China, said a senor executive of the company on Thursday.

“Iron and steel, as well as chemical process industrials, are our main markets in China. But we've seen more and more growth potential from those technologically-demanding sectors, such as medical and aerospace,” said Dr Andrew Hosty, chief operating officer of Morgan Advanced Materials.

Hosty said he has been meeting with some potential partners in China this week and hopefully in the next few months they will be able announce further investment in China.

“The investment is expected to be in the high-tech sector and hopefully one of the projects will be in aerospace,” he told China Daily in an exclusive interview after a press conference in Beijing celebrating the company's 25th anniversary of operations in China.

Morgan Advanced Materials has a total of 16 subsidiaries in China since it set up operations in the country in 1988. The company's business in China has grown from “nothing” in 1988 to about 10 percent of the company's billion-pound ($1.6 billion) global revenue a year, said the company.

“We've seen rapid growth in China over the past 24 years, like double-digit growth. But our China business growth this year is 10 percent smaller than last year's due to the reducing industrial activities in China.

“Some big-capital projects for new steel and new chemical plants have not taken place like we anticipated,” Hosty said, adding the company has a very broad portfolio and has other technologies to bring in to the market, like the medical and aerospace sector.

According to him, it is very difficult to grow in a technical business because it is people-intensive. “After 25 years of development in China, now we have sufficient people growing in the most technical-demanding market,” he said.