Sumitomo Riko Co. Ltd. (TYO:5191) is looking to target local OEMs by establishing a Chinese headquarters for its automotive business next April. Located in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, the new headquarters will come as part of a broader company initiative to strengthen its business system in China – the hope here being to speed up local sales growth for auto parts....
Materials
Yokohama Rubber to Increase Hamatite Building Materials by 5–15%
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) plans to raise ex-manufacturer prices on Hamatite building products for shipments from Jan. 1, 2019. Products under the Hamatite line set for the price hike include building sealants, urethane waterproofing materials and other related products. The price increase on these products will range between 5–15 percent. Yokohama Rubber said that the price hike comes on...
Advanced Technologies Poised to Drive Growth for S-SBR in Fuel-Efficient Tires
Looking at the market for synthetic rubber, solution-polymerized styrene–butadiene rubber (S-SBR) would appear to be on the road to significant growth. Demand for fuel-efficient tires is playing a central role in guiding this rubber down its promising path, creating an expectation that global S-SBR demand will grow by 6–7 percent per year going forward. And Japanese manufacturers, who are technological...
NOK President Expects US–China Trade War to Drive Profits Down by 600M Yen
Kiyoshi Doi, president of major oil seal producer NOK Corp. (TYO:7240), recently provided his thoughts on how the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China is impacting his company’s business. NOK’s operations see the company ship products both from the U.S. to China and vice versa, Doi said. He therefore expects that tariffs being placed on these products will...
Denka Plans Productivity Boost for Chloroprene Rubber as Global Supply Remains Tight
Denka Co. Ltd. (TYO:4061) President Manabu Yamamoto has shed light on his company’s future plans for chloroprene rubber (CR), which is currently up against a tight supply–demand balance around the world. Yamamoto revealed that Denka is looking to increase its productivity for the material via bottleneck removal, implementing moves for this not only at the company’s Omi Plant in Japan...
Sanyo Trading Posts Strong Results on Back of Rubber-Related Product Sales
Raw materials trading firm Sanyo Trading Co. Ltd. (TYO:3176) has posted a strong set of business results for the fiscal year ending September 2018. Over the period, the company achieved 78.45 billion yen ($688.8 million) in sales, up 15.8 percent year-on-year; 5.26 billion yen in operating profit, up 6.6 percent; 5.58 billion yen in ordinary profit, up 5.8 percent; and...