BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – A local producer of rubber for tires is shutting down operations after more than 70 years of operating in Baton Rouge, according to the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC). East West Copolymer, on Scenic Highway, opened in 1943. In 1948, according to the company website, the facility became the first cold polymerization plant in North America. The company produced rubber used in making tires. The LWC says a company representative contacted them…

Global rubber output is expected to climb to 12.9 million tons in 2017 up from last year’s 12.4 million tons, the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) said. Rubber was one of the best performing markets in 2016 and shot up again in January as flooding in Thailand created supply worries. Although, prices slid nearly 20 per cent in February on expectations of a recovery in Thai production. Lekshmi Nair, IRSG’s head of economics and statistics,…

Pune, India – The tires market for original equipment (OE) is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.48 percent from 2016 to 2021, to reach a market size of $30.26 billion by 2021, according to the latest report by MarketsandMarkets. The OE market is primarily driven by the demand for improved fuel economy, low rolling resistance tires, eco-friendly and smart tires, and other factors. Passenger cars are expected to dominate the tires market for…

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (March 15, 2017) — China’s Zhongce Rubber Group Co. Ltd. (ZC Rubber) is targeting growth this year of 25 percent in passenger tire production and 10 percent in truck radial production, company management told a recent dealer meeting in Dubai. In addition to boosting production, ZC Rubber intends to start building a network of retail tier and auto care centers throughout Asia and is developing a cloud-based tire life-cycle management platform, according to Ge Guorong, vice president. ZC Rubber’s…

As China pledges to internationalise its futures markets, the country should open commodity futures trading to foreign participants and play a bigger role in setting global prices for metal, energy, and agricultural commodities, according to industry players and analysts. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) recently announced plans to allow more overseas industrial companies to participate in the mainland’s commodities futures market in order to improve pricing. Fang Xinghai, a CSRC vice chairman, said authorities…

At the beginning of November Sailun Jinyu International (SJI) appointed Gareth Passmore as its president for Europe. He replaced Martin West, who has been appointed global president of the SJI Speciality Tire Group. Passmore, who started on 1 December 2016, is now responsible for all operations throughout Europe across all of the Sailun Jinyu Group brand portfolio – Sailun, Jinyu, Black Lion and Rovelo. Passmore brings with him over 25 years of tyre industry experience,…

No tariffs will be assessed on truck and bus tires manufactured in China and imported into the U.S. The International Trade Commission (ITC) has upended the tariff investigation by voting today against imposing tariffs on these products. The ITC doesn’t immediately publish an explanation of its vote, but instead issues a single sentence that it has “made a negative determination.” The result is that the tariff investigation on truck and bus tires from China is…

Feb 17 Bridgestone Corp, the world’s biggest tyre maker, sees natural rubber prices remaining at high levels in the first half of 2017, followed by a gradual fall, Chief Financial Officer Akihiro Eto said on Friday. Asia benchmark rubber futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) hit their highest in more than five years late last month. (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Joseph Radford)

Consumers across the globe donning gloves to do the dishes may soon feel the heat from rubber being burned on China’s roads. Surging car sales in China in the last few months have more than doubled the price of a little-known chemical called butadiene. The colorless gas, used for making synthetic rubber, has soared in tandem with rising tire demand, increasing raw material costs at some of the world’s largest rubber-glove makers. And now they…

SEOUL, South Korea (Feb. 8, 2017) — Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. is targeting 15-percent revenue growth in fiscal 2017 after reporting a 24.7-percent better operating profit for fiscal 2016 on 3.1-percent higher sales. Hankook said it plans to focus on expanding aftermarket sales in the ultra-high-performance segment, as well as in the premium OE segment, to achieve its goal of exceeding $6.25 billion in sales. For fiscal 2016, Hankook reported operating income of $951.1 million…