ERJ staff report (TP)
Mannheim, Germany – Rhein Chemie, a wholly owned subsidiary of specialty chemicals company Lanxess, achieved global sales of €346m in fiscal 2013, a slight increase over the previous year’s €344m.
The firm said the “strong euro in particular put a dampener on sales development”. The Lanxess group generated sales of €8.3bn in 2013.
Rhein Chemie earned almost half its sales, or €154m, in Europe. The US is now its largest market with sales of €65m. China posted the highest growth – sales rose by 12 percent over the previous year to €50m.
“We have already integrated our acquisitions extremely successfully into Rhein Chemie,” said Dr. Anno Borkowsky, CEO and President of Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH. “In the past fiscal year, we also opened new production facilities for bladders and rubber additives and expanded existing facilities to serve as a basis for future growth.”
Rhenoshape high-performance bladders for tires are produced in its new plant in Porto Feliz, Brazil.
The new production site in Lipetsk, Russia, produces the “globally successful” Rhenogran product line (predispersed polymer-bound rubber additives) used for manufacturing tires, seals and damping elements.
At its site in Qingdao, China, Rhein Chemie has further expanded its Rhenogran production capacity by adding another production line.
After an 18-month construction period involving a total investment of €2.5m, Rhein Chemie last year expanded a facility at its Mannheim headquarters for producing additives for lubricant manufacturers and plastics processors.
Rhein Chemie is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. In 1889, two young chemists set up an enterprise and registered it under the name Mueller & Dubois oHG in Mannheim’s District court. Since then, the company has been “promoting future-oriented developments with customised premium solutions”.
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Press release from Rhein Chemie