Sumitomo Chemical : Termination of Sales of EPDM by Sumitomo Chemical
September 01, 2021 at 09:59 am EDT
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Sumitomo Chemical has decided to discontinue the production of ethylene-propylene-non-conjugated diene rubber (EPDM), a synthetic rubber, at Chiba Works in Japan and to terminate sales of EPDM by the end of March, 2023.
Sumitomo Chemical has been working to increase the value added to its products and reduce manufacturing costs to strengthen the competitiveness of its EPDM business. The maintenance and repair costs of the production facilities for EPDM, however, which have been in operation for more than 50 years, is increasing year after year. Under these circumstances, we reached the conclusion that it is difficult to secure stable profits over the medium to long term.
Sumitomo Chemical will continue to direct its resources to fields in which the Company has competitive advantages, aiming to achieve sustained growth through creation of new value.
Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd is one of the Japanese largest chemical groups. The group is also manufacturing and marketing pharmaceutical products. Net sales break down by family of products as follows:
- petrochemical and plastic products (25.8%): ethylene, polyethylene, propylene, elastomers, agricultural films, etc.;
- pharmaceutical products (23.9%): ethic drugs, radiopharmaceutical products, etc.;
- telecommunication chemical products (18.9%): optic films, pigments, filters, etc.;
- agrochemical and fine chemistryproducts (18.5%): insecticides, herbicides, fertilizers, food additives, etc.;
- functional chemical products (10.7%): methanol, caustic soda, aluminum hydroxide, alumina, nitric acid, acrylonitrile, active pharmaceutical ingredients, polymeric additives, resorcine, colorants, etc.;
- other (2.2%).
Net sales break down geographically as follows: Japan (31.7%), China (19.2%), Asia (19.5%), North America (17.7%), Europe (4.2%) and other (7.7%).
SUMITOMO CHEMICAL CO., LTD. 
