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Analysts give thumbs up to Sime Darby’s buy

MALAYSIAN conglomerate Sime Darby’s acquisition of a 95% stake in Indonesian company PT Indo Sukses Lestari Makmur for US$4.36 million has been given the thumbs up by analysts. It has been reported that the acquisition, through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary…

Thai government props up glove sector

THE Thai government is intervening in the rubber gloves industry by offering soft loans of 5 billion baht to local agricultural institutes and 10 billion baht to rubber estate organisations, enabling latex prices to stay above US$2.30 in the short…

Conti rolls out e-car tyre

TO CATER to the 2.8 million electric cars expected by 2020, representing a market share of 3%, German tyre maker Continental has introduced Conti. eContact for e-cars and hybrid cars. A requirement was to reduce the rolling resistance by 30%…

Plastic/rubber shoe sole for prosthetics

US shoe maker Nike worked with competitive amputee triathlete Sarah Reinertsen to develop a composite shoe sole that can be used with prosthetic specialist Össur’s Flex-Run prosthetic blade for amputee athletes. The Nike Sole features an integrated layered sole including…

Vystar’s first Chinese patent

US-BASED Vystar has received its third US and first Chinese patents for its Vytex natural rubber latex (NRL). The US patent expands the claims beyond just reducing proteins and recognises that the process also reduces the level of non-rubber components…

VMI’s latest tyre building machine

DUTCH rubber and tyre machinery supplier VMI has launched its Exxium car and light truck tyre building machine that has a cycle time of 44 seconds. The machine can handle 12”-24” rim diameter tyres and can be automated. With more…

Chinese EPDM plant to use Italian technology

ITALIAN petrochemical technology firm FasTech has licensed its EPDM technology to petrochemical firm Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yanan Energy and Chemical that will build a 50,000 tonne/year-plant in Xian. Yanchang’s plant will start up in 2014 and will be fed with…