Materials

Zeon Begins Construction of Japanese Pilot Plant to Produce Butadiene from Bio-Based Ethanol

Zeon Corporation has begun construction of a pilot facility at its Tokuyama Plant in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, to demonstrate technology that efficiently produces butadiene from ethanol derived from plant-based and other renewable sources. The new facility is scheduled to begin operations in 2026. Zeon plans to use the butadiene produced at the site to prototype polybutadiene rubber, aiming to...

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Tosoh to Expand Japanese Chloroprene Rubber Production Capacity

Tosoh has decided to expand its chloroprene rubber (CR) production capacity, investing approximately 75 billion yen ($520 million) to build a second CR plant at its Nanyo Complex in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The new facility will increase annual production capacity by 22,000 tons, bringing Tosoh’s total CR supply capacity to 59,000 tons, combined with the existing 37,000-ton capacity. Construction...

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Zeon to Begin Production of High-Performance S-SBR in Singapore

Zeon has introduced new production facilities for high-performance grades of S-SBR, primarily used in fuel-efficient tires, at its subsidiary Zeon Chemicals Singapore (ZCS) located on Jurong Island. Together with its Tokuyama Plant in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the company aims to strengthen its dual production and supply system. Construction of the new facilities for high-performance grades at ZCS has been...

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Ube Provides Update on 2030 Plan, Launches Bio-Based Butadiene Rubber Supply This Year

Ube held a briefing on its medium-term management plan, “Ube Vision 2030 Transformation-2nd Stage,” covering fiscal years 2025 to 2030. “Considering the promotion of basic business structure reforms, specialization, digital transformation (DX), and corporate culture reform, we need to establish a solid six-year plan and execute it steadily,” Ube said, extending the plan’s duration from the previous three years to...

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Mitsui Chemicals to Raise Price of Admer

Mitsui Chemicals announced on May 19 that it will raise the price of Admer by 25 yen ($0.17) per kilogram for deliveries starting July 1. The company stated that the price hike is due to significant increases in costs for certain raw materials, labor, logistics, and equipment maintenance. “Despite efforts to reduce costs, the situation has exceeded our ability to...

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Synthetic Rubber Sales and Profit Up on Forex Impact and Price Revisions: Zeon FY 2024 Results

Zeon’s performance for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, showed sales of 420.65 billion yen ($2.89 billion), up 10% from the prior year, operating profit of 29.32 billion yen, up 43%, ordinary profit of 33.05 billion yen, up 22.8%, and net profit of 26.20 billion yen, down 15.8%. The elastomer materials division reported sales of 236.56 billion yen, up...

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