Osaka Exchange Inc. (OSE) and Thai Futures Exchange PCL (TFEX) have come to an agreement regarding a new futures market for Japanese natural rubber. Based on this agreement, TFEX launched a market named Japanese Rubber Futures on Nov. 30, with this being a cash-settled natural rubber futures market based on the final settlement price of OSE’s own Natural Ribbed Smoke...
Industry
Recovery in Automotive Production Sees Rubber Products Sector Spring Back in September
With automotive production recovering, there has also been steady improvement in both production and shipment results for rubber products. According to figures released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) for September, Japan’s monthly production and shipments of rubber products came to a value of almost 181.4 billion yen ($1.74 billion), down just 8.2 percent against the same...
Mitsubishi Chemical’s Carbon Fiber SMC Finds Use in Roof of New Toyota GR Yaris
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. recently announced that its carbon fiber sheet molding compound (SMC) has been adopted for use in the roof of the new GR Yaris launched in September by Toyota Motor Corp. (TYO:7203). In selecting this SMC, Toyota judged that the material would be able to facilitate both significant lightweighting and a high level of component performance while also...
Sumitomo Rubber Tests TPMS to be Used in Level 4 Autonomous Driving
Looking to help achieve Level 4 autonomous driving, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110) has built an integrated system that handles everything from obtaining tire pressure data through to facilitating maintenance for detected issues. The company recently subjected this system to proof-of-concept testing on public roads in Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, on Nov. 12. This system comes as part of a joint...
Carbon Black Production Rises as North American Tire Demand Trends Toward Recovery
Tokai Carbon Co. Ltd.’s (TYO:5301) carbon black business is on the rebound after bottoming out during the April–June quarter, says President Hajime Nagasaka. Speaking at a financial results briefing on Nov. 5, Nagasaka said that demand is recovering particularly in the U.S. and Thai markets, adding that the company’s U.S. production bases have utilization rates up in the 90–95 percent...
Sumitomo Rubber Wins Award for Research Using K Supercomputer
Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110) has received an award for research that used Japan’s K supercomputer to carry out a large-scale molecular dynamics simulation of tire rubber. This award was one of a number given out for effective use of the country’s High Performance Computing Infrastructure (HPCI). Awarded on Oct 30, the winners were announced at “The Seventh Project Report...