Asahi Kasei increases S-SBR production in Singapore to meet growing tyre demand

JAPAN'S Asahi Kasei Chemicals is raising the production capacity of its Singapore plant for solution polymerised sytrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) to meet growing demand for tyres.

The plant on Jurong Island, which began operations in 2013, currently has a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes a year. Asahi Kasei is expanding this to 130,000 tonnes a year, making it the group's largest S-SBR manufacturing site in the world.

The expansion is expected to be completed by January 2019.

Besides Singapore, Asahi Kasei also has S-SBR plants in the Kanagawa and Oita prefectures in Japan.

Damian Chan, executive director of energy and chemicals at the Economic Development Board, said that Asahi Kasei's decision to increase its production capacity of S-SBR in Singapore reflects the country's growing importance as a strategic gateway to Asia.

"Rapid urbanisation and a growing middle class will drive demand for high performance solutions, and Singapore is committed to partnering companies to meet these needs either through our strong technical expertise to manufacture high IP sensitive products, or access to growth markets through excellent connectivity and logistics," he said.