Zeon Corp. (TYO:4205) President Kimiaki Tanaka recently spoke with Japan Rubber Weekly about how the accelerating trend toward electric vehicles (EVs) will impact his company. Tanaka said that specialty rubber, which is used in parts around automotive engines and is central to the company’s earnings, will be used less and less as the industry continues its march toward EVs. Zeon...
Materials
JSR President Talks Initiative to Advance Elastomer Operations Beyond Asia
JSR Corp. (TYO:4185) President Mitsunobu Koshiba is hoping to see stable earnings for his company’s elastomer business. But to achieve this, he recently told Japan Rubber Weekly, JSR will need to take its marketing efforts for the sector onto the global stage. Koshiba said that his company’s elastomer business still has its sales largely directed at the Japanese domestic tire...
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Shin-Etsu Plans January Price Hike for PVC
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd. (TYO:4063) recently announced that it will raise its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) price by at least 15 yen per kilogram for shipments from Jan. 21 onward. Explaining the decision, a company representative said that crude oil and naphtha prices are expected to continue increasing from autumn onward, and that costs are also rising for utilities, transport and...
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Osaka Soda to Raise Epichlorohydrin Rubber Prices in January 2018
Osaka Soda Co. Ltd. (TYO:4046) will raise the price of its Epichlomer line of epichlorohydrin rubber by 35 yen ($0.31) per kilogram for shipments beginning Jan. 10, 2018. The company said that it has tried cost-cutting to deal with rising raw material prices. However, tighter epichlorohydrin supplies relative to demand, coupled with increasing prices for monomers and other primary ingredients,...
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Sumitomo Riko Aims to Bolster Overseas Production of Non-Automotive Products
Sumitomo Riko Co. Ltd. (TYO:5191) is gearing up to grow its business for general industrial products in non-automotive sectors. These plans include starting overseas production of water-developable flexographic printing plates and increasing the company’s overseas production bases for anti-vibration rubber for use in railcars. Sumitomo Riko will establish a production base for water developable flexographic printing plates in Turin, Italy,...
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Dow Corning Toray’s Molykote Approaches 70th Year in 2018
Molykote, a special lubricant produced and sold by Dow Corning Toray Co. Ltd., will celebrate its 70th year in 2018. Unlike regular lubricants, Molykote can withstand a large range of high and low temperatures while preventing wear and tear. It is used in automobile pistons and brakes to mitigate friction and to control vibrations, noise and squeaking. As a more...
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