Lanxess, TSRC to Build Chinese Plant for Nitrile Rubber

Lanxess and Taiwan’s TSRC Corporation will enter into a 50:50 joint venture in China that will produce Nitrile Rubber (NBR) in Nantong, northwest of Shanghai. The €36m plant will have an initial capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year, and is due on stream in early 2012.


The two companies will begin marketing activities in the next few months, in order to build volume. That demand will be supplied from Lanxess plant in La Wantzenau, France until the Nantong plant starts up.

“The partnership is a win-win-combination. It brings together TSRC’s long-history of engineering and production know-how in China with Lanxess' marketing and technical expertise in synthetic rubber,” said TSRC’s CEO Wei-Hua Tu.


TSRC currently operates emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber (ESBR), polybutadiene rubber (BR) and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) plants in Nantong and is one of the largest synthetic rubber producers in Asia. The products are sold under the tradename Taipol.


TSRC posted sales of USD 700 million in 2009 and currently employs 1,100 people worldwide. In addition to its Nantong site, TSRC has production plants in Shanghai and Jinan in China as well as in Taiwan and Thailand.


Lanxess is the world’s largest producer of synthetic rubber and NBR. Its products sold under the brand names Perbunan, Krynac, Baymod and Nanoprene are part of Lanxess' Technical Rubber Products business unit.