Shin-Etsu: Chinese market key to silicones business recovery

Tokyo – Shin-Etsu is “having a hard time” in its silicones business amid weak demand and falling prices, the Japanese supplier has reported.

The group’s functional materials segment, which includes silicones operations, reported a 15.6% year-on-year decline in first half sales to Yen215 billion (€1.3 billion).

Operating income for the segment, meanwhile, fell by nearly 30% year-on-year to Yen51.7 billion, Shin-Etsu financial figures issued 7 Nov also show.

Commenting particularly on the silicones operations, Shin-Etsu said it is working to raise profitability by increasing its focus on high value-added products  (ERJ report).

“We think the bottoming out and recovery of commodity products will depend on how the Chinese economy turns out," said Shin-Etsu president Yasuhiko Saitoh.

An uptick, added Saitoh, will depend “not only on the demand from China, but also on the volume of exports from China as there are quite a lot of commodity products made there.”