The year 2023 was a year in which the rubber industry was greatly affected by the surrounding environment. The easing of semiconductor shortages led to a recovery in automobile production, the main source of demand, but higher raw material prices, electricity and other utility costs, logistics costs, labor costs, and various other costs affected business performance. The rubber industry in...
Industry
Zeon Gives Update on Elastomer Business, ACM Plant in Thailand Increases Operation
Zeon’s elastomer materials business division posted sales of 104.73 billion yen ($730.50 million) in the first half (April-September) of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, down 6.0% year-on-year, and operating profit of 3.64 billion yen, down 60.9%. General-purpose synthetic rubber is on a recovery trend compared to the second half of fiscal 2022 (October-March). While Japanese domestic sales remained...
Bridgestone Teams up With Tohoku University to Develop Innovative Materials
Bridgestone has formed a research and development team with Tohoku University to develop innovative, data-driven materials by utilizing Nanoterrace, a next-generation synchrotron radiation facility being built on Tohoku University’s new Aobayama campus. The base of the team will be the Green Cross Tech Research Center established by the university. The research center is an industry-academia co-creation innovation center with the...
Yokohama Rubber Receives 2023 Defense Structure Improvement Foundation Award
Yokohama Rubber, NEC and Sampa Kogyo received the 2023 Defense Structure Improvement Foundation Award from the Defense Structure Improvement Foundation of Japan for the development of the Nora-50 (also known as Unicorn) composite communications antenna for destroyers. The award, sponsored by the Defense Acquisition Agency, is presented to individuals or groups that have made particularly outstanding achievements in the development...
Japanese Automotive Tire Demand to Remain Flat in 2024: Forecast
The Japan Automotive Tire Manufacturers Association (JATMA) recently announced its forecast for Japanese domestic demand for automotive tires in 2023 and 2024. According to the report, total demand for tires for new vehicles in 2023 is expected to be 183.29 million tons, almost unchanged from 2022, with demand for new tires seen to be higher, but demand for tires for...
Report: General-Purpose and Specialty Synthetic Rubbers Remain Sluggish
Synthetic rubber shipments are sluggish and many manufacturers are saying that it will be difficult to achieve a recovery at least by the end of the fiscal year. This comes as both tire and industrial goods applications, particularly automotive parts, continue to struggle. A certain degree of recovery is expected once inventory adjustments, which are said to be the main...