The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has now spread to the point where it is impacting Japanese rubber companies with operations in Europe. Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) has halted operations at two of its European plants as of 3:00 p.m. Thursday, March 19, Japan Standard Time. The decision includes a truck and bus tire plant in Bilbao, Spain, as well as...
Around two months have now passed since the novel coronavirus came to be widely reported on in the global media. But unlike in China, where some aspects relating to the virus outbreak are starting to calm down, the world more broadly is seeing the virus continue to spread. Against this backdrop, one player in the field noted concern around how...
The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has worked with the University of Tokyo to develop a rubber composite material that offers heat conductivity on par with that of metal. This was achieved by dispersing two kinds of carbon fiber – specifically carbon nanofiber (CNF) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) – as fillers throughout polyrotaxane, a type of...
The Japan Rubber Hose Manufacturers Association has used statistics from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to compile results for Japan’s rubber hose sector in 2019. Figures here show that the sector’s production volume using new rubber fell 10.9 percent year-on-year to 34,593 tons, with shipment value down 1.4 percent to 142.53 billion yen ($1.33 billion). This marks...
Efforts in Japan to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus infection are moving forward at a rapid pace. On Feb. 25, Japan’s central government issued its basic policy on novel coronavirus countermeasures, with large-scale events postponed or canceled the following day. JRW has compiled the following report on concurrent efforts being undertaken in rubber-related industries. Many companies have instituted staggered...
Japan’s four major tire manufacturers – Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108), Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110), Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) and Toyo Tires Corp. (TYO:5105) – are all forecasting improvements at the operating profit level for calendar 2020. Bridgestone is using adjusted operating profit here, while Sumitomo Rubber and Yokohama Rubber use business profit. However, with Bridgestone noting that it is...
