Lanxess, Tokyo Zairyo Form Chinese Sales Alliance

Special chemicals group Lanxess AG has announced the formation of an alliance with Japan-based Tokyo Zairyo to sell rubber chemicals to Japanese companies engaged in the industrial rubber product sector within China. This cooperative agreement took effect on December 1, and the German company expects that the partnership will also help its sales in Japan and other Asian countries.

Tokyo Zairyo now has four sales representative offices in China – Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The offices will negotiate with Japanese companies operating in China and gain purchase approvals from their parent companies. In return, Lanxess will provide a full rubber chemical production line to a rubber composite materials subsidiary belonging to Tokyo Zairyo.

Lanxess anticipates rising rubber consumption will stimulate the demand for rubber chemicals in Asia, a region that currently accounts for 40 per cent of global demand. Despite the present global financial unrest, China and India are expected to exhibit stably growing rate of demand in the medium-term.