Sino-Japan JV to start courier service

Japan’s Sumitomo Corp and Sagawa Express Co, jointly with China’s Shanghai Dazhong Transportation (Group) Co., will form a joint-venture company for express delivery service, the first of its kind in China.
The new company will be set up this July and start business in August in the city of Shanghai and then in eastern China covering Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui Provinces.
Cashing in on the trends of rising demand for B2B consolidated small-lot shipment delivery in parallel with a sharp increase in the number of retailers in China, the joint venture firm targets sales of US$8.46 million by 2005, their third business year. The company also aims at business-to-consumer markets on a nationwide scale in future.
Based in Shanghai, the new company will be capitalized at $4.23m, 51 percent of which is financed by Shanghai Dazhong, 20 percent by Sumitomo, 4.5 percent by Shanghai Sumitomo, and 24.5 percent by Sagawa, respectively.