China will become one of the biggest Bible producing countries in the world when a new printing press opens this month.

Nanjing, once the country's capital, is home to a 48,000-sq metre factory in an industrial park which will employ 600 non-Christian locals producing 23 Bibles a minute. Most will be distributed in China in 10 languages and braille. The plant is expected to supply a quarter of the world's Bibles by 2009.

The Amity Printing Company, a joint venture with the British Bible Society, printed its 50 millionth Bible last December and its new press, opening on May 19, will double annual production to 12m.