AVIRE, a leading elevator safety and communication systems provider, expects China's demand for elevator light curtains will grow 10 percent annually as the country builds more high-rise buildings.

China currently needs 600,000 elevator light curtain units a year, creating a US$60 million market, Avire Managing Director Paul Simmons said today in Shanghai, where the company launched a new factory.

Light curtains are opto-electronic devices used to make elevators safer. The device can detect when a person or object is between elevator doors and prevent them from closing.

The new facility, with annual capacity of 150,000 light curtain units, brings Avire's global capacity to over 500,000 units per year. The company has set aside space at the new plant to double capacity in the future.

Avire also provides electronic displays, emergency telephones and LED lighting to the elevator industry. It is a unit of London-listed health and safety device maker Halma Plc.

China has become the center of the elevator industry, with 60 percent of the world's new elevators now being built in China, according to Avire.

In 2011, Shanghai overtook New York as the city with the most elevators and escalators.

Shanghai today has about 170,000 elevators and escalators in operation, according to Zhi Xifeng, vice president and secretary general of the Shanghai Elevator Trade Association.