Chinese communication technology companies are confident about the opportunities in the Brazil market, despite South America’s largest economy undergoing economic recession, the Chinese newspaper China Daily reported on Monday.

China’s ZTT, a cable system manufacturer, opened a factory in Brazil last week with a floor space of 750,000 square metres. “ZTT entered the Brazilian market two years ago and has developed rapidly ever since,” Qu Zhi, Director of the factory, told the newspaper. “This year, amid the downturn of the Brazilian economy, ZTT’s sales also increased fivefold,” he added.

The Director noted Brazil is a huge market with a population of more than 200 million. “In the future we will increase our investment according to market sales,” he said.

Chinese telecommunications equipment and services firm Huawei is also positive about the Brazil market. “Brazil has lots of small and remote cities where telecom service lags far behind [other places],” said Wang Guoyu, Deputy Director for business solutions at Huawei South America. “Huawei is willing to co-operate with Brazilian partners to promote smart city construction,” he added in comments also quoted by China Daily, and referring to digital communication infrastructure.

A survey by Brazil’s central bank indicated the country’s economy is likely to contract by 2.85 percent this year and 1 percent next year.