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...