Shikoku Chemicals is set to build new facilities for insoluble sulfur at its Marugame Plant in Marugame, Kagawa. Construction here is scheduled to span April 2023 – October 2024, after which the new facilities will begin production in December 2024. Coming at a total investment of 4.5 billion yen ($32.8 million), the new facilities are set to boost Shikoku’s production...
Mitsui Chemicals’ ethylene-propylene rubber (EPDM) plant operations remained at a high level in fiscal 2021. In the first half of the year, from April to September, the supply-demand situation remained tight. Sales remained steady, however, in the second half from October to March, despite being affected to a small extent by the shortage of semiconductors and reduced car production. The...
Zeon recently revised its basic CSR policy, which is the basic approach to its corporate activities, and established a new basic sustainability policy effective July 1. The company aims to achieve the 2030 vision of its medium-term management plan by developing its CSR management of the past into a sustainability management with a broader perspective. Under its basic CSR policy,...
Denka expects global demand for chloroprene rubber (CR) to keep up growth of several percent per year going forward. And as part of this, dry CR products are focused on the shift toward electric vehicles (EVs), with an understanding that this will see some products rise while others fall. Elsewhere, belts and other such industrial applications are expected to maintain...
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, in collaboration with partners including Tohoku University, Kanazawa University and Saitama University, has succeeded in an experiment leading to the improvement of natural rubber varieties. The experiment identified the section of a natural rubber synthesizing enzyme that is important for controlling the chain length of natural rubber. By incorporating the section into an enzyme derived from tomatoes,...
Kuraray said that it will be raising prices on its hydrogenated styrenic elastomers Septon, Hybrar, and TU-Polymer. Set to come into effect on July 15, the global price hike will see prices here rise by $0.33 per kilogram. The rising costs, including main raw materials, utilities, and logistics costs related to the products in question, have exceeded the scope of...
