RUSSIAN firms, Rosneft and Rostec (Russian Technologies), and Italian firm Pirelli signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a joint R&D on materials to be used in the manufacturing of tyres. The signatory companies were represented by Igor Sechin, President…
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…
World’s 9th largest tyre maker to build new plant in Indonesia
TAIWAN’s Cheng Shin Rubber Industry Co, the world’s ninth largest tyre firm is setting up a factory on a 27-hectare site in Indonesia, and in so doing is reported to be increasing its investment from US$80.1 million to US$320 million,…
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 &…
Sumitomo Rubber assumes Apollo SA tyre business
APOLLO Tyres has sold its South African tyre business, the Dunlop brand rights and Ladysmith passenger car tyre plant to Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries for US$60 million. Apollo, meanwhile maintains its Durban plan for the newly-formed company, Apollo Durban. With…
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.…
Ansell taps emerging markets for its rubber gloves and condoms
AUSTRALIA-based Ansell Ltd announces that it focuses on emerging markets to boost sales of its high-tech rubber gloves and upmarket condoms. “We’re focusing on emerging markets because working hands have moved from developed to developing markets and clearly we need…
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…
Wacker designates Silspek Rubber to market curing silicones
MUNICH-based chemical group, Wacker, assigns additional marketing rights to its sales partner Silspek Rubber for the sale of high-temperature-curing silicones. The Polish silicone compounder will be marketing ready-to-use silicone rubber compounds based on Wacker raw materials with the label “Based…






