ARIZONA-based PanAridus is joining Cooper Tire & Rubber and its consortium partners on a previously-announced US$6.9 million Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) grant toward development of guayule plant-based polymers for use in tyre manufacturing. The BRDI is a joint…
Category: Industry News
Michelin pulls out 1.3 million truck tyres for air, tread loss risk
MICHELIN North America, Inc recently announced a safety recall of approximately 1.3 million of its Michelin LTX M/S commercial light truck tyres sold primarily in the US, Canada and Mexico. The tyres are typically found on such vehicles as commercial…
Malaysia’s natural rubber prices surge on demand
ACCORDING to market report, rubber prices closed higher, as data from China indicating that demand for natural rubber was increasing; the top rubber buyer’s rubber import climbed to a record of 270,000 tonnes last month. Accordingly, positive sentiments in the…
Energy cost hike in Malaysia to up glove prices, say manufacturers
THE MALAYSIAN Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma) say that there is a likely price increase in gloves to offset production costs due to electricity tariff hike. MARGMA President Lim Kwee Shyan said the production cost for 1,000 gloves will increase…
India’s replacement tyres market posts robust sales
THE SLOW demand for passenger cars in India did not tip off the growth of replacement passenger car tyre market. Based on a recent study by GfK, there are over 5.5 million car tyres sold in India’s replacement market in…
Gapkindo bids for output reduction by 10%
THE INDONESIAN rubber group (GAPKINDO) proposes to the country’s sector to reduce its output by 10% by next year. Meanwhile, it also urges other Southeast Asian rubber producers to follow suit, to minimise global stocks and support prices, which according…
Lanxess integrates its polymer testing and innovation centres
GERMAN chemicals firm Lanxess has been offering the services of its Polymer Testing Centre to external customers, and recently, it has also integrated the centre, which was previously part of the High Performance Elastomers business unit into its Innovation &…
Lanxess hikes chloroprene rubber price
GERMAN specialty chemicals firm Lanxess has announced an increase of up to EUR180 (US$245)/per metric tonne in the global price for its Baypren branded Chloroprene Rubber (CR). Increasing raw material and energy prices are pushing the CR cost, says Lanxess.…
Environmental group tells investors to bow out on Vietnamese rubber firm
ACCORDING to environmental group, Global Witness (GW), the Vietnamese rubber company, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) did not keep up to its commitments to address environmental and human rights abuses in its plantations in Cambodia and Laos. Moreover, GW says…
IOCL debuts India’s first SBR plant
THE INDIAN Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), the country’s state-owned oil and gas company, has launched India’s first e-SBR (styrene butadiene rubber) facility, sited at Panipat, near the naphtha cracker plant of the IOCL refinery . M Veerappa Moily, the union…