Two large synthetic rubber manufacturers, JSR Corp. (TYO:4185) and Zeon Corp. (TYO:4205), recently released their business results for the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Both companies saw a significant increase to their elastomer division profits for the quarter, including profits for synthetic rubber. This profit growth is caused by an increase in the spread between elastomer material costs and selling...
Industry
Sumitomo Rubber to Establish New Company, Manufacturing Facility in Slovenia
Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110) recently announced that it will establish a new company and manufacturing facility in Slovenia. Serving to accelerate the global development of Sumitomo Rubber’s business in precision rubber parts for medical applications, the new company will be established as a subsidiary of Swiss-based Lonstroff AG with a total investment of 34 million euros ($40.03 million). Sumitomo...
Increase in Demand for Chloroprene Rubber Tightens Global Supply–Demand Balance
Supply and demand for chloroprene rubber (CR) is tightening worldwide. According to a Japanese domestic CR manufacturer, inquiries from overseas are flourishing to the point where domestic CR manufacturers cannot handle all of them. For product shipping, Japanese domestic CR manufacturers give preferential treatment to existing, mainly Japanese, customers and strive to maintain a steady supply of CR. The global...
Mizuno and Sumitomo Riko Co-Develop Advanced Table Tennis Rubber
Sports goods manufacturer Mizuno Corp. (TYO: 8022) has co-developed Q3, a new table tennis rubber, with Sumitomo Riko Co. Ltd. (TYO: 5191). The product will be sold starting Oct. 7 at Mizuno stores across Japan that handle table tennis goods. The two companies aim to sell 24,000 units globally in the first year. Q3 targets advanced players with a high speed...
Nitta to Acquire Toyo Tires’ Chemical and Industrial Product Business
Osaka-based Nitta Corp. (TYO:5186) recently announced that it will acquire the chemical and industrial product business of Toyo Tire and Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5105), excluding the seismic isolation rubber business. Toyo Tires’ subsidiary, Toyo Chemical Industrial Products Co. Ltd., will set up a new company in which the business to be acquired by Nitta will be transferred. 100 percent of...
Carbon Black Shipment Volume Rises For Fifth Straight Month
Shipment volume of carbon black for May rose to 43,271 tons, up 0.2 percent from the same period a year prior, according to data compiled by the Carbon Black Association. This marks the fifth consecutive month of year-on-year increases. Looking at carbon black shipments for rubber, the volume for general-purpose rubber rose 1.4 percent. However, shipment volume was sluggish for...