BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The US-based chemicals firm DuPont said its one third of its sales in China in recent years benefited from its strategy of localizing innovation in the country, which services as the firm’s the main strategy for it to expand in China.
Among its current around US$3 billion sales in China, almost US$1 billion came from the products and applications developed in DuPont’s research center in Shanghai—also the innovation center for China, said Gu Xuqing, its technology director for China region, yesterday in Shanghai.
Compared with the global market, “China converts profit from research and development more efficiently,” Gu said.
He said it reaped “several millions of dollars” from a cleanable wallpaper it developed last year in China, as the Chinese market pumped sales growth to DuPont with an annual growth in usage “higher than 15 percent.”
While in Europe and America more than half of the households are using wallpapers, only about 10 percent of the Chinese residents are adopting wallpapers for decoration, leaving huge profit potential for providers, reported China Wallcovering Association.
Apart from consumption goods like wallpapers, Gu said DuPont’s efforts in China mainly focus on automobile and clean energy industries, where it predicts “higher growth potential.”
Nearly half of its research projects China are on car interior materials such as heat-resisting nylon installed around engines and insulative plastics to protect batteries.
China remained the world’s biggest auto market by number of vehicles with 2.6 million cars sold in the market last month.
The merger between DuPont and Dows, another US-based chemicals giant, has attracted much attention since it was announced earlier this year. Despite no more details were revealed, Gu said in China DuPont would focus on local innovations, shifting business to high value-added industries, especially performance materials and special consumption goods. (Shanghai Daily)
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