IRISH ANIMAL health company Bimeda has established a joint venture firm in Shijiazhuang in China to develop and manufacture veterinary and animal health products for the local and regional market.

The 50-50 joint venture between Bimeda and Shijiazhuang Rainbow Laboratories will initially provide product stability and raw materials testing for the pharmaceutical industry.

It will be the initial platform for expected further investment by Bimeda in the Chinese market.

“The demand for animal health products will increase and this will lift the Chinese market and other international markets in the region,” said Bimeda group chief executive Donal Tierney.

Bimeda is a manufacturer and distributor of veterinary pharmaceutical products and animal remedies, with sales, marketing and manufacturing facilities in Ireland, Canada, the United States, Brazil and Britain. The company has a presence in five continents selling to 75 countries.

Annual turnover is estimated at about €100 million, and the group employs 180 people in Dublin and 500 people worldwide.

The China operation has been processing raw materials for many years. The latest joint venture links it with one of its suppliers, Zhuhai-based ZJ Pharmaceuticals, a stakeholder in Rainbow Labs.

“Enterprise Ireland sees it as an important initiative and Bimeda are one of our key clients and a major player in Ireland and overseas in the animal health business,” said Alan Buckley, Enterprise Ireland’s director for greater China. The company was launched at a ceremony last week attended by company officials, Sun Ruibing, general secretary of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Committee of the Communist Party, and Irish Ambassador Declan Kelleher.

Shijiazhuang is the capital city of the province of Hebei, with a population more than 10 million, and is one of the fastest-growing cities in China.