R&P (Pte.) Ltd. and Hop Zenith Chemical Trading form joint venture

R&P (Pte.) Ltd. (R&P) and Shanghai Hop Zenith Chemical Trading Co. (Hop Zenith), Ltd.have entered into a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture (JV) company in China to produce, distribute and market Thermoplastic PolyOlefin (TPO) compounds, both locally and abroad, to the automotive sector in Asia-Pacific region.

R&P was the designated toll compounder for ExxonMobil Chemical’s Exxtral grades from Sep 2008 to Oct 2014, and participated in the development of new products during this period. With its strong background in manufacturing and R&D, R&P licensed the technology from ExxonMobil Chemical in 2014 when ExxonMobil Chemical exited from the TPO market, so as to continue serving the automotive OEMs directly with its STERLENE grades.

Hop Zenith, a distributor for EMC’s Exxtral grades from Oct 2011 to Oct 2014, was appointed by R&P in December 2014 as its main distributor to market its STERLENE grades in China. Since 2011, Hop Zenith has built strong ties with various global automotive OEMs in China, and achieved strong sales record for Exxtral and STERLENE.

Although a definitive agreement is being worked out, the JV is expected to start with an installed capacity of 15kta, and targets to increase to 50kta within 5 years of commencing of production.