Chloroprene rubber (CR) sales volume and prices are likely to bottom out in the second half of fiscal 2023 (October-March 2024). This comes with demand for CR currently being sluggish due to weak demand for industrial goods and adhesive applications, as well as inventory adjustment in automotive applications, where demand has been recovering. Supply chain inventories have built up significantly...
Rubber products maker Achilles posted sales of 38.18 billion yen ($258.94 million) in the first half of the fiscal year ending March 2024 (April-September 2023), down 6.4% year-on-year. The company posted an operating loss came of 519 million yen (vs. a loss of 102 million yen in the same period last year), an ordinary loss of 45 million yen (vs....
Shin-Etsu Polymer reported net sales of 53.45 billion yen ($353.19 million), up 1.7% year-on-year, operating income of 5.88 billion yen, down 11.4%, ordinary income of 6.4 billion yen, down 13.3%, and net income of 4.61 billion yen, down 8.3% for the first half (April-September) of the fiscal year ending March 2024. The company said that while shipments of automotive input...
Solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR) is one of the raw materials that contribute to the improvement of fuel economy in terms of electric power consumption of tires. The demand for SSBR is expected to further expand on a global scale as it becomes more important for EVs, which require longer cruising distances. ETIC, which specializes in consulting on synthetic rubber and...
Zeon Corporation has posted a 6.1% year-on-year decline in sales to 185.44 billion yen ($1.23 billion), a 53.1% drop in operating income to 9.46 billion yen, a 46.6% decline in ordinary income to 13.03 billion yen, and a 40.5% drop in net income to 10.35 billion yen in the first half (April-September) of the fiscal year ending March 2024. In...
Sanyo Trading has recently signed a sole agency agreement for Japan with Brisil Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of biomass rice husk silica. The agreement will accelerate the supply of highly dispersible biomass silica for tire and rubber compounding to the Japanese market. Silica is an important raw material for fuel-efficient tires, and demand for silica is expected to grow...
