Asahi Kasei’s synthetic rubber business in the first half (April-September) of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, was affected by the economic slowdown, especially in China, and both SSBR and BR sales volume and net sales fell short of the plan. The positive factor for SSBR was an increase in production of tires for new vehicles due to a...
Materials
Lanxess Expands Ion Exchange Resin Product Line for Effective PFAS Removal
Lanxess has expanded its line of ion exchange resins for the effective removal of perfluoroalkyl compounds and polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFAS) from contaminated water by adding the anion exchange resin Lewatit Monoplus TP109 to its product lineup. In line with this announcement, Lanxess Japan held a press conference in November to explain the advantages of Lewatit ion exchange resins to the...
Chloroprene Rubber Volumes and Prices Likely to Bottom Out in Second Half
Chloroprene rubber (CR) sales volume and prices are likely to bottom out in the second half of fiscal 2023 (October-March 2024). This comes with demand for CR currently being sluggish due to weak demand for industrial goods and adhesive applications, as well as inventory adjustment in automotive applications, where demand has been recovering. Supply chain inventories have built up significantly...
Achilles Posts First Half Results, Sales Down 6%
Rubber products maker Achilles posted sales of 38.18 billion yen ($258.94 million) in the first half of the fiscal year ending March 2024 (April-September 2023), down 6.4% year-on-year. The company posted an operating loss came of 519 million yen (vs. a loss of 102 million yen in the same period last year), an ordinary loss of 45 million yen (vs....
Shin-Etsu Polymer Reports First Half Results, Expects Increasing Silicone Rubber Molding Products Demand
Shin-Etsu Polymer reported net sales of 53.45 billion yen ($353.19 million), up 1.7% year-on-year, operating income of 5.88 billion yen, down 11.4%, ordinary income of 6.4 billion yen, down 13.3%, and net income of 4.61 billion yen, down 8.3% for the first half (April-September) of the fiscal year ending March 2024. The company said that while shipments of automotive input...
ETIC Eyes Setting Global Standards for SSBR
Solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR) is one of the raw materials that contribute to the improvement of fuel economy in terms of electric power consumption of tires. The demand for SSBR is expected to further expand on a global scale as it becomes more important for EVs, which require longer cruising distances. ETIC, which specializes in consulting on synthetic rubber and...