Shandong Linglong Tire Co. plans to invest $450 million to create a new company that will focus on the development of dandelion rubber in the industry.
The tire company recently hosted the 2017 Dandelion Rubber Technology Innovation Forum in partnership with the Dandelion Rubber Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance in Beijing, China. The forum focused on innovations in the dandelion industry, the company says, "aiming at accelerating the development of China’s dandelion rubber industry."
Linglong see dandelion rubber as a strategic raw material of the future, especially in light of a shortage of natural rubber in China, where the company says 80% of natural rubber is imported.
Linglong wants to take a lead in the alternative rubber, and says that's why it took a lead role in setting up the Dandelion Rubber Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance.
The company says it will invest $450 million to set up a company tentatively named Linglong Dandelion Science and Technology Development Co.
Wang Feng, chariman of Linglong, says the new company believes the establishment of the new company will "lay a good organizational foundation for the future development of dandelion rubber."
Additionally, the development and use of dandelion rubber could also improve the environment because it would reduce the use of synthetic rubber in the Chinese rubber industry.
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