Nippon Paper Group Inc., Rengo Co. and Sumitomo Corp. said Monday they have decided not to renew their business tieup contract, which expired Sunday.
In line with the expiration of the two-year contract, paper product manufacturer Nippon Paper Group and smaller papermaker Rengo have ended talks aimed at management integration, company officials said.
The two papermakers and trading house Sumitomo inked the business cooperation accord in March 2007 to streamline operations like procurement of raw materials.
Although the three slashed business costs around ¥1.1 billion during the past two years, they concluded that further cost-trimming would be difficult.