Kuraray raising elastomer prices

Tokyo – Kuraray’s elastomers business unit is raising prices for a range of elastomer materials manufactured at its Kashima plant, in Japan.

Effective 1 Jan 2026, or as existing supply agreements allow, the company will apply a price hike of $1.00/kg on all Septon, Hybrar and TU-Polymers, said Kuraray in a 2 Dec statement.

This is the second time Kuraray is raising elastomer prices in a less than three months.

In October, the Japanese supplier introduced a price hike of $0.22/kg for the same materials globally.

The Japanese supplier linked the decision to “increasing feedstock, process chemical, utility, logistics, maintenance, and other costs.”

Such costs, it said, “have reached a level beyond unilaterally absorbable by self-saving efforts.”

“It is necessary to recover a portion of these increases to ensure ongoing supply and new product innovation,” it added.

Septon is described as a recyclable TPE with ‘high elasticity, high strength, weather resistance, low-temperature properties, chemical resistance, heat aging resistance, and electrical insulation properties.’

The material can be used in various applications including automotive parts, medical parts and sporting goods.

Hybrar is listed as ‘a triblock co-polymer with polystyrene end-blocks and polydiene mid-block.’