Tigers Polymer Corp. (TYO:4231), a major manufacturer of automotive rubber components and plastic hoses for home appliances and civil engineering, is expecting in its April 2016 – May 2017 net sales to see a recovery in demand for automotive parts in the Chinese market. Speaking recently in an interview with Japan Rubber Weekly, President Kentaro Watanabe said that he anticipates...
Factors such as automobile tire production and carbon black imports have a major impact on Japan’s carbon black industry. Last year saw a decrease in import volume from China due to the weak yen, but the stronger yen expected for this year is causing fears of a slight increase in imports, mainly from China. Japan Rubber Weekly got an inside...
The Chinese rubber industry experienced its greatest annual slowdown ever in 2015, with one of the industry’s leading products, tires, finishing the year with negative growth. The downturns in the Chinese and global economies were major contributing factors. In fact, the growth rate of the global economy’s real gross domestic product (GDP) was around 3 percent in 2015, the lowest...
The Chinese rubber industry must boost productivity, alternative energy use and strive for digitization if it is to reach its targets for 2025, says Fan Rende, Honorary Chairman of the China Rubber Industry Association (CRIA). Speaking at the China Rubber Conference held in March in Qingdao, Shandong Province, the 73-year-old Fan outlined the tasks facing the domestic Chinese industry in...
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) is looking at leveraging Japan’s forte of manufacturing and rolling out its technology on a global scale, says Yukio Saegusa, director of the company’s Advanced Tire Production System Division. To this end, the company is putting effort into optimizing production and introducing cutting-edge technology. Presently within Bridgestone’s 10 tire factories domestically, Saegusa said that the company has enhanced the...
Amid weak movement in rubber overall, Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corp.’s (TYO:3407) solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (S–SBR) business has found relatively robust performance in its specialty area of high-performance products. The company has felt some impact with a portion of its product lines due to the economic downturn in China, a large consumption market. However, demand in Asia on the whole has...
