Maytag withdraws from joint venture

US refrigerator maker Maytag has withdrawn from its joint venture with the Chinese firm Rongshida, taking a US$42m loss, South China Morning Post said. The joint venture was set up in 1996, when Rongshida, then the country’s largest maker of washing machines, wanted to expand into refrigerators. The US firm invested US$70m in the venture. By the time the first refrigerator was produced in 1998, competition in the market had intensified. In addition, Rongshida proved unable to handle the advanced technology supplied by Maytag; a production line with a design capacity of 1.2m units a year turned out only 100,000 units.