The settlement results for labor force wages and annual bonuses have started to come out from the “spring offensive” negotiations in Japan. The Japanese Rubber Workers Union Confederation is comprised of 58 member unions. Forty-eight of those put forth wage demands to the companies of the unions’ respective labor forces, from which 20 unions have reached conclusions. Regarding annual bonuses, 45...
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO: 5101) announced it will purchase all shares of Dutch company Alliance Tire Group B.V. (ATG). The equity value of the transition is $1.179 billion (136 billion yen), Yokohama Rubber’s largest acquisition to date. The company will finance the purchase with its own funds and bank loans. The acquisition is expected to be finalized on July...
Nitta Corp. (TYO:5186) subsidiary Nitta Corporation of America (NCA) has conducted a ceremony, believed under the indigenous Japanese Shinto religion to purify land, at the expanded construction site where its second factory is to be built. Operating mainly in North and South America, NCA is building the new factory facilities to reinforce its production and processing efforts as its regional...
Japan’s rubber machinery manufacturers are increasingly cashing in on demand for maintenance and modifications to raise efficiency and add advanced features rather than new orders. This has come amid decreasing capital spending on production facilities, triggered by shrinking domestic manufacturing of automotive rubber parts and general industrial rubber products as a result of a decline in domestic production of automobiles...
In January 2016, the shipment value of rubber products in Japan fell by 6 percent to 160 billion yen ($1.41 billion), the seventh consecutive month of year-on-year decreases, according to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Automobile tire production was down 67 percent to 10.72 million tires, the 14th consecutive month of year-on-year decreases. Meanwhile, the value of...
Japan’s import volume of natural rubber for January 2016 increased by 1 percent year-on-year to more than 58,000 tons, rising for the first time in five months, according to the Rubber Trade Association of Japan. However, the import value plunged by 18 percent to 9.26 billion yen ($81.7 million), declining for the fifth month in a row. The average import...
