Denka Company Limited completed it acquisition of the chloroprene rubber (CR) business of E.I. Dupont de Nemours and Company (Dupont) on Oct. 31, 2015. In December 2014, the companies announced that Dupont would sell its CR business to Denka Performance Elastomer (DPE; capital: $62 million), a joint venture between Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and Denka, for between 10 and 14...
Ube Industries Ltd. recorded increased sales and profit for the first six months (April-Sept.) of fiscal 2015. Sales were up 5 percent year-on-year to 323.3 billion yen ($2.62 billion), operating income was up 230 percent to 20.5 billion yen ($166.4 million), and ordinary income was up 303 percent to 19.7 billion yen ($159.9 million). Profit attributable to owners of parent...
JSR Corp. increased solution styrene butadiene rubber (S-SBR) sales volume by 30 percent in the first half of the year through March. In addition to launching full-scale operations at its new S-SBR plant in Thailand, the company’s expansion into the large-scale middle range market contributed to the first-half increase, said Hayato Hirano, senior officer and director. JSR easily exceeded global market...
Kumho Polychem, a JSR Corp. group company producing ethylene propylene rubber (EPDM) in Korea, returned to profitability for the first half of the year. In addition to boosting sales volume, the company benefited from lower prices for the raw materials ethylene and propylene. In September, Kumho Polychem added 60,000 tons of annual production capacity, bringing its total to 210,000 tons. Although this additional capacity...
Mitsui Chemicals Inc. recently celebrated the opening of Mitsui Chemicals (Shanghai) Functional Composites Co. Ltd. (MFS), a company dealing in the production and sale of functional compounds in Shanghai’s Jinshan District. MFS aims to tap into demand in China’s growing automobile and packaging markets. In March, the factory started production and sales of Milastomer, a thermoplastic elastomer used in automotive window...
Bridgestone Corp. has announced the recent development of the X3R Series, its seismic isolation rubber for low-rise buildings. The company has already developed a super-large seismic isolation rubber for ultra-high-rise buildings, and sells a full assortment of types, including seismic isolation rubber for low-rise, mid-rise, high-rise, and ultra-high rise. In earthquake-prone Japan, the company’s products help mitigate earthquake damage. The...
