Asia Is Targeted For Tire Rubbers

Lanxess says it's deciding among Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand as the site for a $540 million plant that it expects to open in 2010 for the production of butyl rubber for tires. The company recently completed the expansion of a butyl rubber plant in Zwijndrecht, Belgium, and is expanding a facility in Sarnia, Ontario. Separately, Asahi Kasei will expand a plant making solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber in Oita, Japan, by almost 20% to 62,000 metric tons per year. Asahi says the plant makes a special grade of rubber, introduced in April, that is used in the manufacture of fuel-efficient tires.