In the printing, paper manufacturing, and steel making roll sectors, where the overall demand environment is severe, roll manufacturers are concentrating their resources in areas where demand is firm. Demand for rolls for printing continues to decline gradually due to the trend toward being paperless. “The most difficult market is for new printing machine installations. However, due to the stagnant...
Industry
Zeon Establishes Chinese JV for Lithium-ion Battery Anode Binders
Zeon Trading (Shanghai), a wholly owned subsidiary of Zeon Corporation, has agreed with Zhuhai Chenyu New Materials Technology (Chenyu), an affiliate of Shanghai Energy New Materials Technology (Semcorp), to establish Shanghai Chenon New Materials Technology, a joint venture to sell binders for negative electrodes used in lithium ion batteries. The investment ratio is 51% by Chenyu and 49% by Zeon...
CEMA Publishes Construction Machinery Demand Forecasts for Fiscal 2024 and 2025
The Japan Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA) recently released its construction machinery demand forecasts for fiscal 2024 (April 2024-March 2025) and fiscal 2025 (April 2025-March 2026). The forecasts were compiled based on a questionnaire survey conducted in January among 61 construction equipment manufacturers that are regular members of the association. According to the survey, in fiscal 2024, Japanese domestic shipments...
Yokohama Rubber and Zeon to Construct Bench Facility for Sustainable Butadiene
Yokohama Rubber and Zeon will construct a bench facility at Zeon’s Tokuyama Plant in Shunan City to demonstrate a highly efficient technology for generating butadiene from ethanol derived from plant materials. The facility will begin operating in 2026, and will collect various data for securing butadiene and for mass production. This initiative is one of two R&D themes selected in...
Japanese Tire Makers Achieve Record Sales in Fiscal 2024
The four Japanese tire makers, Bridgestone, Sumitomo Rubber, Yokohama Rubber, and Toyo Tires, have released their fiscal 2024 financial results. Although market conditions were generally harsh, all four companies posted record-high sales and record-high operating income (Bridgestone posted adjusted operating income; Sumitomo Rubber and Yokohama Rubber posted operating income), thanks in part to a tailwind from a weaker yen. On...
Sumitomo Rubber and Mitsubishi Chemical to Collaborate on Carbon Black Recycling
Sumitomo Rubber and Mitsubishi Chemical will start collaboration on resource recycling of carbon black, one of the main raw materials for tires. Under this collaboration, Sumitomo Rubber will supply Mitsubishi Chemical with recycled materials, including rubber fragments generated in the tire manufacturing process as well as crushed and processed products from used tires. Mitsubishi Chemical will feed the recycled materials...