An increasing sense of tightness is developing in Asia around the supply and demand of hydroquinone. Prices have increased by as much as 20 percent over last year, and the...
ube industries
Ube Industries Looks to Revitalize Chemical Operations
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) President Yuzuru Yamamoto recently gave a Tokyo press conference, offering up details on his company’s management and the progress of its current medium-term management plan, which...
Ube Industries Partners With Sumitomo Bakelite, Kohjin Bio to Offer Cell Culture System
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) has formed a three-way partnership intended to help it commercialize a cell culture system able to vastly increase the efficiency of biotechnology-based pharmaceuticals production. Using cell...
Ube Industries Develops New Urethane Resin for Preventing Concrete Deterioration
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) has developed a new urethane resin with improved coating toughness and transparency for use with building materials in civil engineering. The new resin can be used...
Ube Industries Eyes New Plant in Americas to Produce DMC from Natural Gas
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) has decided to establish a new chemical plant somewhere in the Americas, where the company will use its proprietary technology to synthesize chemicals from natural gas....
Chemical Industry Grapples With Rising Yen, Shale Influx
Fiscal 2018 is under way. Accounts have been settled for fiscal 2017, and as of this February all of Japan’s major chemical companies are expecting to see record highs on...
Ube Industries to Jointly Develop Automotive Lithium-Ion Starter Batteries
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) has announced that it will join Mazda Motor Corp. (TYO:7261) and Eliiy Power Co. Ltd. in the development of lithium-ion starter batteries. Ube Industries will develop...
Ube Industries Develops Porous PI Membrane to Optimize Biopharma Production
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) has developed a cell culture component able to significantly improve production efficiency for biopharmaceuticals. The developed product – a polyimide (PI) membrane with a special porous...
Ube Industries Targets New Applications for Polyamide 12-Based Thermoplastic Resin
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) is working on developing new applications for its Ubesta XPA thermoplastic elastomer, a high-performance polyamide 12-based resin. Offering excellent hydrolysis resistance, the product maintains its rubbery...
Ube Industries Develops New TSU With up to 40% Greater Wear Resistance
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) has developed a new thermoset polyurethane elastomer (TSU) with improved resistance to wear and distortion. By combining polyurethane raw material with a special polymer able to...
Ube Industries Moves Toward 300M Square Meter Annual Capacity for LiB Separators
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) is continuing to make investments into increasing its production of separators, which are primary components of lithium-ion secondary batteries (LiBs). The company’s Sakai Factory in Osaka...
Ube Industries Develops New Nylon 12 Resin With High EVOH Adhesion
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) has developed a new grade of nylon 12 resin that can be manufactured at lower cost than conventional forms of the material widely used in applications...
Japan’s Major Chemical Manufacturers Post Record Profits in First-Half Results
All of Japan’s major chemical manufacturers have posted record highs on a net profit basis with their respective midterm settlement of accounts for September 2017. And with each of these...
Mitsubishi Chemical to Restart UK Electrolyte Plant Next Spring
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. plans to resume operations at its U.K. electrolyte factory for lithium-ion secondary batteries (LiBs) in spring of 2018. The move comes in response to growing demand in...
Japan’s Best Path Forward to Survive the Global Chemical Industry’s Changing Tides – Part 8
The birth of DowDuPont Inc. raises questions as to what developments we can expect to see now in what is something of a final frontier in terms of company realignments...
Ube Industries to Double Shipping Capacity for Ammonia
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) has announced that it will double its shipping capacity for ammonia, which is used as a base material in products such as synthetic fiber. The firm...
Phenol Demand Expected to Continue Growing 5% Per Year in Asia
Asian demand for phenol is projected to continue growing at an average rate of 5.2 percent per year until 2020. This is due in part to expected production capacity increases...
Ube Industries to Boost PCD Production in Thailand, Spain
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) is gearing up to expand its Thai and Spanish production of polycarbonate diol (PCD), a raw material for polyurethane. With plans to bring in new technologies...
China Eager to Move Toward OLED as LCD Replacement
China is the world’s largest producer of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) but is now actively investing in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) as a means to replace LCD technology. OLED production...
Chemical, Materials Firms Set to Exceed 1 Trillion Yen in Capital Investments for 2017
Investments in plant and equipment by major chemical and materials companies during fiscal 2017 are set to total 1.18 trillion yen ($10.62 billion), increasing 20 percent over the previous year’s...
