Category: Feature

Glove sector gains an upper hand in PPE market

Consumption for rubber gloves has gone up amid workplace safety concerns and the management of emerging infectious diseases like the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the nitrile butadiene rubber market has responded positively with improved supply. Growing reliance on PPE, a…

Bridgestone to expand US tech centre with test track facility

Tyre major Bridgestone Americas plans to expand its Akron-based Americas Technology Centre campus to include a new vehicle dynamics test track for the development of future tyre technologies. To be completed next summer, the track will also supplement tyre testing operations…

Falken opens new tyre warehouse in Germany

Falken Tyre Europe has opened a new 40,000 sq-m logistics centre in Gengenbach, Germany. Falken is the largest customer of the facility run by logistics partner FIEGE, which can store 450,000 tyres. Strategically located near the German-French border to serve…

Lion Elastomers to enter NBR business

US firm Lion Elastomers will be expanding the emulsion-based facility in Port Neches, Texas, US, to manufacture NBR rubber. This new undertaking will position the company to support the domestic demand and provide security of supply for nitrile rubber.  Major…

Wacker acquires 60% stake in Chinese specialty silane company

Munich-based chemical company Wacker has acquired a 60% stake in specialty silane manufacturer SICO Performance Material Co., Ltd, Jining (China), a leading manufacturer of organofunctional silanes, which are a key component in high-performance adhesives, sealants, coatings, and composites. The transaction is…

Apollo Tyres to produce Vredestein tyres in India

India’s Apollo Tyres is now manufacturing its Vredestein brand of tyres in India for the superbike and premium and luxury passenger car segments. The tyre manufacturer had acquired the European brand in 2009 and launched it in India with a range of imported tyres…

MPIC eyes big data analytics for rubber, palm sectors

The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) is using big data analytics to coordinate essential data from the industries under its purview in order to maximize the country’s resources. This strategy, according to MPIC Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin, will…

Evonik/Wynca Chinese fumed silica plant goes on stream

The joint venture between Evonik and the Chinese company Wynca – Evonik Wynca (Zhenjiang) Silicon Material Co. is starting-up its new fumed silica plant. Located in the Zhenjiang New Material Industry Park in Jiangsu province, the plant is Evonik’s first…