Rubber & tire industry in numbers

PROJECTS / RESTRUCTURING

Yokohama Rubber Co. is to close its 474-employee off-road tire plant in Hadera, Israel, effective 31 Dec. YRC acquired the plant with its €1bn purchase of Alliance Tire Group in 2016. Capacity: 42kt/yr of farm, earthmover and industrial bias tires.

DL Chemical subsidiary Cariflex has completed construction of a KRW480b (€320m) polyisoprene  latex plant in Juron Island, Singapore. The country’s ‘first’ such facility is intended to meet global demand for medical and consumer products, particularly surgical gloves.

BUSINESS

Cooper-Standard reported a loss of $119m for Q1-3/24, compared to a loss of $147m for Q1-3/23. Sales fell 3.3% ear-on-year to $2. bn, while adjusted earnings declined 9.3% year-on-year to $126m. Q3/24 sales dipped 7% year-on-year to $685m.

Toyo Tire Corp. reported a “record” Q3, with sales up 2.8% year-on-year to Yen420bn and earnings 52% higher at Yen76bn – including 49% higher earnings at its Tires unit to Yen74.8b, on 3.5% higher sales of Yen387bn.

Also, Toyo Tire upgraded its full-year earnings outlook on strong Q3 sales, lower costs and currency effects, with 2024 operating income now forecast at Yen86bn (€522m), up 6% on an earlier estimate.

For Q1-3/24, Tokai Carbon has posted EBITDA up 10.5% year-on-year to Yen24bn, on 7.4% higher sales of Yen119bn. Operating income grew 2.8% year-on-year to Yen16.3bn. The figures included a 6.7% increase in Q3 sales to Yen39.8bn and operating income up 6.4% to Yen5.5 billion.

Japanese rubber and polymer parts maker NOK Corp. posted an 11% year-on-year increase in sales for the six months to 30 Sept, to Yen393bn and operating income of Yen19bn, versus Yen4.8bn in H1/23.

Japan-based Sumitomo Riko reported a 35.4% year-on-year increase in fiscal Q2 operating profit to Yen17.3bn for the three months to 30 Sept, up from Yen12.8bn last year. 

TRADE

Tire makers contributed around €44bn to EU GDP in 2023, an ETRMA/Oxford Economics report shows. ETRMA member companies last year sold over 300mtires produced at European facilities and support around 500k jobs.

China has extended tariffs on nitrile rubber imports from Korea and Japan by five years, as of 9 Nov, to: Korea - Kumho Petrochemical, 12%; LG Chem, 15%; All other Korean companies, 37.3%; Japan - Zeon Corp., 28.1%; Eneos Materials Corp., 16%; All other Japanese companies, 56.4%.

India has imposed anti-dumping duties on thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) imports from China. at 30-40% for Chinese supplier Miracll Chemicals; 40-50% for Zhejiang Huafon TPU and 60-70% for all others.

SHARE PRICES

Leading manufacturers’ share-price trends

MATERIALS markets

Natural rubber

After recent volatility on markets in India and Thailand, natural rubber prices seem to have settled, ANRPC data indicates. On 7 Nov, RSS4 was trading at around $216/100kg on the Kottayam exchange, down from about $219 on 23 Oct. In Bangkok, RSS3 was trading at around $229 on 31 Oct, having spiked to approach $301/100kg at the end of September. Other rubber commodities tracked by the association remained relatively stable.

Natural rubber futures strengthened during the trading week ended 8 Nov, driven by gains in global equities following the US presidential election results. All major Far East markets closed the week higher amid expectations of lower interest rates, and declining official SHFE rubber stock levels, reported Japan Exchange  Group. 

Selected NR futures price trends on major trading exchanges

(ERJ calculation for Jan ‘25 futures)

Previous ERJ week in numbers.