LANXESS opens rubber research centre in China

17 July 2008 11:49  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--LANXESS has opened a €10m ($15.9m) centre for rubber research in Qingdao, China, the German specialty chemicals company said on Thursday.

"The new LANXESS research centre covers the entire research spectrum from basic research and technical customer service to preparation for the commercial exploitation of new developments," said Gunther Weymans, head of the company's technical rubber products segment.

The centre, which is a joint project for the company’s technical rubber products, butyl rubber and performance butadiene rubbers business units, would be located in the immediate proximity of the Qingdao University of Science and Technology, it said.

LANXESS said this would enable close cooperation with the university.

"The LANXESS research centre will enable us to train highly skilled employees to help us develop top-quality, environmentally compatible products for the Chinese market," said Weymans.

The Asia Pacific region accounts for some 40% of the global rubber market, according to LANXESS.

The company said it anticipated high growth rates for this region in the future, attributable mainly to the Chinese rubber market, which according to LANXESS estimates would grow by around 10% a year up to 2013.

($1 = €0.63)

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