Chemical manufacturer Tosoh Corp. (TYO:4042) saw a slight year-on-year decline through March of this year on the sales volume of its chloroprene rubber (CR) business. On the back of a weak Japanese yen, the company had hoped domestically to see a rebound in the number of produced automobiles. However, such numbers remained stagnant from the previous term. CR is used...
Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5105) has made the voluntary declaration that it is on board with, and will be party to, objectives of the Sustainable Natural Rubber Initiative (SNR-i). Proposed and launched by the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG), the initiative serves to ensure the sustainability of natural rubber (NR). It seeks to achieve an NR economy in...
Production volume for rubber belts in April was down 4 percent year on year, marking eight straight months of such decreases. Meanwhile, year-on-year exports for that month were up by 3 percent, although a cooling domestic market led to a 6 percent decline in Japan. Figures for each belt category released by the Japan Belting Manufacturers Association indicate that production...
Rubber sheet production volume in April was 6.5 percent higher than in April of 2015, making for a fourth consecutive month of year-on-year increases. Meanwhile, shipment volume rose 0.8 percent from a year before, marking a third straight month of annual increases. By product category, April press product manufacturing volume was up 5.6 percent on the year, although shipments declined...
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...
