Pipelife International Holding GmbH (PO Box 54, A-2355 Wiener Neudorf), the joint venture of Solvay SA (Rue du Prince Albert 33, B-1050 Brussels) and Wienerberger AG (Wienerbergstr. 7, A-1100 Vienna) for the manufacture of plastic pipes and fittings, has agreed to form a joint venture with Chinese PVC and PE pipe manufacturer Changzhou Reinforced Plastics Factory (CRPF). The new company named Changzhou Pipelife Reinforced Plastic Pipe Co. Ltd. will be owned to 65% by Pipelife and to 35% by CRPF. It will be based in Changzhou, 200 kilometres northeast of Shanghai.

Pipelife will bring its technical expertise and production facilities into the jv, CRPF its existing share of the pipe and fittings market in the region of Shanghai, where CRPF already has production capacity of around 8,000 t/y for PE water pressure pipes and fittings and PE gas pipes. With the new company, Pipelife is reinforcing its presence in the booming pipe market in the Shanghai region, which is currently showing annual growth of 20 %. The Austria-based pipemaker already has a stake in four companies in China.