Mitsui Chemicals held seminars in various countries to introduce MR™

Mitsui Chemicals has conducted various educational seminars aimed at optical stores staffs in many countries throughout the world, and we also regularly hold seminars in China in cooperation with lens manufacturers. The scale of the optical stores taking part in the seminars ranges from stores with several employees to chain stores with hundreds of employees, including not only store staffs but also managers and owners. The content of the seminars consists mainly of lessons from eye doctors, lens manufacturers’lens brand introduction, and introductions to “MR™”, Mitsui Chemicals’ high R.I. lens materials brand, which support these manufacturers’ lenses brands.

Seminar with themed on protecting eyes from harmful light held in China

We covered a “Public Benefit Seminar to Protect Eyes Health by Preventing Harmful Light” that was held at Harbin, China this year on 9th July. About 100 people participated in this seminar. Everyone listened attentively to the lesson on MR™ given by Mitsui Chemicals employees. This was the first time such seminar was conducted. And it seems only few optical stores’ employees knew about the features of lens materials which have great impact on lens. In this lesson, we first learned about lens materials such as acrylic, ADC resin, and polycarbonate, and then we focused on MR-8™ among the MR™ brands, describing its merits by comparing it with other materials. Participants were very forward in asking questions, showing the high level of interest in MR™. When we interviewed the seminar participants, we heard opinions such as “I’m glad I learned all about lenses at this seminar” and “I want to fully explain everything I learned today to customers and sell more lenses with MR™”

Increased Increasing demand for high R.I. lenses in the Chinese lens market in recent years

We interviewed Mr. Tang Yunzhi of Mitsui Chemicals, who was the instructor at the seminar, about the lens market in China. According to him, the share of 1.56 refractive index lenses had previously been high in China, but it had decreased recently, while the share of high R.I. lenses was increasing. The popularity of 1.60 refractive index lenses based on MR-8™ materials was particularly noteworthy, and demand for 1.67 MR-7™ and 1.74 MR-174™ lenses has apparently increased. Mr. Wang JianKai says that there are some reasons behind it. Retailers have cultivated a better understanding of MR™ materials and are now actively recommending MR™ lenses to customers despite their high price. In addition, as awareness of eye health has increased amongst Chinese consumers, MR™ lenses are appealing more to consumers.