Gree Electric Appliances, one of China's largest air conditioner producers, Tuesday announced the start of operations in the first phase of its manufacturing base in Hefei, Anhui province.

The new base will increase the company's production capacity to 27 million units of air conditioners a year.

There are reports that the company has about 3 million air conditioners stockpiled with an estimated market value of about 1,000 yuan ($146) apiece.

Total investment in the Hefei manufacturing base, which is Gree's largest outside its headquarters in Zhuhai, is expected to reach 1.5 billion yuan. The company is planning construction of the second phase of the base in one to two years.