Zeon Corp. (TYO:4205) has announced that it intends to establish a new subsidiary, tentatively named Zeon Chemicals Asia Co. Ltd., to help in expanding its business for the manufacture and sale of acrylic rubber. The subsidiary will be located in Rayong Province, Thailand, and capitalized at 1.25 billion baht ($38.13 million). Acrylic rubber provides for excellent resistance to heat and...
production
Nishikawa Rubber to Establish Chinese Production Base for Automotive Seals by End of Year
Nishikawa Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5161) has announced that it will establish a Chinese manufacturing and sales subsidiary for rubber and plastic auto parts in the outskirts of Wuhan, Hubei Province. By starting up a new base here, the company hopes to better meet the needs of its major customers, seeing these needs growing in tandem with China’s domestic automotive market....
First-Half Rubber Belt Production Down 2% Year-on-Year
Japan’s total production of rubber belts for January–June declined 2 percent year-on-year to 13,169 tons, according to a set of rubber and resin belt statistics recently released by the Japan Belting Manufacturers Association. Factors behind this included a fall in domestic demand for conveyor belts and flat demand, both domestically and in exports, for transmission belts. Looking specifically at rubber...
Rubber Industry Sees Solid Demand for Raw Materials in First Half
The first half of calendar 2018 has seen robust demand for raw materials in the rubber industry. This comes on the back of recovering applications in automobiles and tires – the main sources of demand for the materials – as well as strong demand for semiconductors. Due to a rise in the cost of crude oil, prices have increased for...
Asahi Kasei Plans S-SBR Capacity Increase in Response to Steady Demand
Asahi Kasei Corp. (TYO:3407) is planning an increase to production capacity for its solution-polymerized styrene–butadiene rubber (S-SBR) business, which has continued to achieve a high level of sales. The company’s facilities here are currently operating at full capacity. Moving forward, Asahi Kasei projects that sales under the business will continue growing steadily for fiscal 2018. As S-SBR is now used...
Japan’s Transmission Belt Production Rises 2% Year-on-Year for 2017
The Japan Belting Manufacturers Association recently released statistics showing Japan’s domestic production of transmission belts to have increased 2 percent year-on-year for 2017, reaching a total of 11,985 tons. While automotive demand stalled, demand for general industrial applications was solid. Increased demand was seen for applications such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment, injection molding machines, machine tools and industrial robots. Looking...