MUMBAI, India (Dec. 2, 2008) — Lanxess has teamed up with Japan-based distributor Tokyo Zairyo Co. Ltd. to serve the Japanese companies in the Asian market with rubber chemicals.
Up to now, Lanxess has sold its rubber chemicals in Japan directly to tire manufacturers and indirectly to customers outside the tire industry through Kawaguchi Chemical Industry Co. Ltd. acting as the importer and sales agent. Lanxess said it will continue dealing with tire manufacturers in Japan on a direct-sales basis.
Tokyo Zairyo already handles sales into Japan and elsewhere on behalf of Zeon Corp. and DuPont Performance Elastomers.
In the rest of Asia, business has been done mainly via local trading companies, but sales to Japanese companies in the region have proved difficult and Lanxess has been looking for ways to break into the market. The solution was a revised marketing strategy for Asia in which the company terminated its sales agreement with Kawaguchi Chemical and formed an alliance with Tokyo Zairyo starting in January.