Styron to acquire S-SBR production rights in Schkopau from JSR

(updates with additional company comment, capacity details)

LONDON (ICIS)–Styron has acquired the 50% production capacity rights held by Japan’s JSR for one of its solution styrene butadiene rubber (S-SBR) trains operating in Schkopau, Germany, the US-headquartered plastics, rubber and latex producer said on Tuesday. 

Styron will have full capacity rights for S-SBR produced by the unit from 1 April this year, it added.

The deal adds 25,000 tonnes/year to Styron’s S-SBR capacity at the site, according to rubber business director Francesca Reverberi.

“At the moment we are running at full [S-SBR production] capacity [at the site],” she told ICIS.

Reverberi added that the company has eight SBR trains in Schkopau, of which three produce S-SBR, with a combined capacity of 350,000 tonnes/year.

Styron senior vice president Marco Levi said the deal offered an opportunity to develop its rubber business without investing in the construction of new capacity.

“This agreement allows us to further grow our rubber business in a very economical and timely manner. The investment builds on the success of the third S-SBR train in Schkopau which we brought on-line in 2012,” he said.

According to Reverberi, the additional capacity is to ramp up production of higher margin performance and fuel-efficient tyres on the back of legislation in Europe and internationally to reduce automotive emissions levels.

She said: “Our main focus [for S-SBR] is in the high-performance tyres sector, because of the tyre labelling [regulations], which are effective in Europe and other parts of the globe such as Japan and [South] Korea.”

She added that several other large markets seem likely to institute stricter emissions standards, driven by increasing concern over air purity in several large growth markets.

“We think that China should come up, and the US are also working on regulations, as well as Brazil,” she added.