China’s Wanhua Chemical Group has entered into a distribution and tolling collaboration with Italy’s Sapici for aliphatic polyisocyanates.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sapici will warehouse and distribute Wanhua’s product range throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Wanhua will also have access to Sapici’s manufacturing capacities and technical resources.

A manufacturer and marketer of raw materials for coatings and adhesives, Sapici has three production plants – two in Italy at Cernusco sul Naviglio, Milan, and San Cipriano Po, Pavia, and one in Zhuhai, Guangdong, China. The company invested a multi-million euro sum last year to expand capacity in San Cipriano Po and Zhuhai.

Christian Furiosi, Sapici’s CEO, said the partners will leverage the recent investment in isocyanate production and will continue to expand their portfolio.

Wanhua claims to be the largest MDI manufacturer in the world and the only Chinese company with independent intellectual property rights for making methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI), and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI).