Chennai, Sep 4 - Cycle and engineering products manufacturer Tube Investments may exit China, where it manufactures cold drawn welded (CDW) tubes, if it does not find a local partner, a top company official said here Friday.

'A team has gone to China to explore options. We may continue to be in China if somebody is willing to work with us or we may exit the country,' said company managing director L. Ramkumar.

'We thought the market for CDW tubes would go up but it turned out otherwise,' Ramkumar told IANS.

However, he said he did not believe China is a 'jinxed country' for the $3-billion Murugappa Group, of which Tube Investments is a part, even though another group firm, Carborandum Universal, severed ties with its Chinese partner in a joint venture there.

Carborandum recently signed a division agreement with the Chinese partner, under which it would run the abrasives business through its wholly-owned subsidiary while transferring other businesses to the other party.