The forming of the strategic partnership marks a further step forward for the existing cooperation between the two companies. In August, Huntsman Textile Effects, a major innovator with more than 700 patents, announced it had granted a sole licence to Jihua for manufacturing, sales and marketing of Huntsman’s patented reactive Super Black dyes in China. With the agreement, Huntsman and Jihua are now selling the Super Black products under their respective tradenames. In addition, Huntsman also awarded Jihua Group the right to sub-license its patented Super Black dyes in China.

The strategic alliance will help further strengthen the two companies’ capabilities of serving their customers in China and speed up their expansion in the country while raising standards for the whole industry. Investment in China’s textile industry grew 1.6 times year-on-year in the first six months of this year to RMB 13.1 billion, pointing to a marked expansion by textile manufacturers, according to China National Textile Apparel Council (CNTAC). This is also expected to result in growing need for chemical solutions.

“We are very pleased to have broadened our cooperation with Jihua Group into a strategic partnership,” said Rohit Aggarwal, President of Huntsman Textile Effects, at the signing ceremony. “This strategic alliance will allow us to create greater cost and operational efficiencies and we can react quicker and be more nimble to our customers in China.  Huntsman is now even better positioned to capture the emerging mark opportunities in China.  The  alliance will also help to pave the way for us to enter into further discussions with Jihua Group to broaden our cooperation to include other reactive dyes and intermediates in the future,” continued Mr Aggarwal.