Japan’s shipments of rubber products came to a total value of more than 1.15 trillion yen ($10.79 billion) for the first half of calendar 2019, marking a 0.5 percent increase over the same half last year. This is based on calculations from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) regarding production and shipment figures for rubber products. Looking at...
JSR Corp. (TYO:4185) has announced that it intends to establish a new investment subsidiary on Oct. 1. Named JSR Active Innovation Fund LLC, the new company will invest on a global scale into startups focused on digital technologies. The aim is to then use these technologies to further accelerate the creation of new businesses. Investment activities will start with an...
Conducting a survey over early- to mid-July, Japan Rubber Weekly asked 158 Japanese manufacturers of rubber and resin products about their business outlooks, earnings forecasts and more. The responses coming back from 107 companies indicated a deepening sense of market opacity. In addition to rising uncertainty around international situations such as the U.S.–China trade war, several domestic factors – including...
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) has carried out joint R&D efforts with two academic partners to develop a catalyst system with the world’s highest productivity for creating butadiene from bioethanol. The company has then also been successful at using this butadiene in the synthesis of butadiene rubber. For its research here, Yokohama Rubber worked with the National Institute of Advanced...
Kyoto University Professor Mikihito Takenaka recently took up the mantle of president at the Society of Rubber Science and Technology, Japan (SRIJ), an organization made up of rubber researchers and experts. Coming into the job with lofty aspirations, Takenaka plans to proactively carry out personnel exchange projects with overseas partners. The SRIJ has so far signed a memorandum of understanding...
Yokohama Tire Corp. (YTC), a U.S. sales subsidiary of Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101), recently announced that it has received an Excellent Performance Award from Subaru Corp. (TYO:7270) U.S. subsidiary Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. (SIA). The award was granted to YTC for its supply of the Avid S34P tire, which the company provides as OE for the Subaru Impreza....
