market conditions

Promising Signs Emerge in Japanese Market for Studless Winter Tires

While snowy conditions around Japan have started later than average this winter, recent developments are hinting at a more favorable tailwind for sales of studless winter tires. Coming into mid-December, northern Japan is finally seeing full-fledged winter conditions, while elsewhere even parts of the Kanto region are beginning to see snowfall. Publishing a demand forecast this summer for the second...

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Surging Costs Hurt Domestic Market for Rubber and Plastic Hoses

Manufacturers of industrial rubber products have seen their revenues of late driven down by rising distribution and raw material costs. The impact of this has been particularly large for rubber and plastic hoses, which require significant labor to transport due to their shape and so incur higher delivery costs than other rubber products. This has then combined with sharp cost...

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Nitta Posts Strong Q1 Results as President Expresses Concerns Over China–US Trade War

Nitta Corp. (TYO:5186) has reported rising sales and profits for the first quarter of fiscal 2018. This puts the company on a solid start to achieving its medium-term management plan goal of generating 100 billion yen ($899.62 million) in sales for fiscal 2020. Sales for the quarter came out to 21.63 billion yen, growing 19.2 percent year-over-year. Operating profit increased...

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JRW Survey: Industry Leaders Raise Concerns Over Raw Material Price Hikes, Labor Shortages

Japan Rubber Weekly recently conducted a survey on business conditions in the rubber and resin industries, targeting 157 major domestic product manufacturers. With 115 of these companies sending back answers, the response rate was 73.2 percent. The results showed that while business conditions are fair, respondents are concerned by labor shortages, surging logistics costs and trends to raw material prices....

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Rubber Industry Sees Solid Demand for Raw Materials in First Half

The first half of calendar 2018 has seen robust demand for raw materials in the rubber industry. This comes on the back of recovering applications in automobiles and tires – the main sources of demand for the materials – as well as strong demand for semiconductors. Due to a rise in the cost of crude oil, prices have increased for...

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Chloroprene Rubber Shortage Intensifies Worldwide, Affecting Japanese Firms

Chloroprene rubber (CR) is continuing to face a global shortage. Japanese CR manufacturers are already at their limit, holding down exports to prioritize domestic supply, while both producers and users of the product are struggling to navigate a situation where there are no expectations of a falloff in demand. A representative of one Japanese CR manufacturer has said that his...

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