New Year’s Top Interview: JSR President Mitsunobu Koshiba President Mitsunobu Koshiba of JSR Corp. (TYO:4185) said recently in an interview with the Japan Rubber Weekly that his company’s future does not lie in an extension of the pattern its success has followed up to now. He instead stressed the crucial nature of nonlinear thinking. Koshiba said that an all-out effort...
New Year’s Top Interview: Sumitomo Rubber CEO Ikuji Ikeda 2016 will be a crucial year for Sumitomo Rubber’s new mid-term business plan. In order to achieve its goals, the company plans to stay steady on its feet and adapt to the changes in the increasingly challenging rubber market, said Ikuji Ikeda, CEO of Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110), in an...
(Continued from part 1 published Dec. 23, 2015) Showa Denko K.K (TYO:4004) will continue strengthening its sales strategy for chloroprene rubber (CR) in the U.S. The company has had a joint CR production venture in the U.S. with E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) and has led the industry in meeting user needs for discontinued DuPont grades and...
Total chloroprene rubber (CR) production remained firm through early autumn. According to Denka Co. Ltd. (TYO:4061), production was somewhat sluggish in part because of a slump in domestic automobile manufacturing volume, although business performance was robust in China. Factors elsewhere in Asia, meanwhile, included weak domestic demand in Thailand, and stabilization at low levels in Europe. Domestic CR operations at...
Tosoh Corp. (TYO:4042) president Kenichi Udagawa said his company’s strategy is to concentrate on developing new applications for chloroprene rubber (CR) and chlorosulfonated polyethylene (CSM). Looking ahead, although current low naphtha prices and a weakening yen are in Tosoh’s favor, the environment affecting the company’s various businesses—which includes raw fuel prices, exchange rates, overseas markets and the supply-demand balance—is susceptible...
Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (TYO:4183) achieved a strong performance in the first half of fiscal 2015 (April–September) for EPDM (ethylene propylene diene terpolymer) rubber. Contributing factors were a weak yen and low naphtha prices. Shanghai Sinopec Mitsui Elastomers Co. Ltd. (SSME), Mitsui Chemicals’ joint venture for EPDM production in China that went onstream at the end of 2014, started up again in...
