The Notch Blog

Birla Carbon has announced a restructuring of its carbon black operations, operating through three divisions: Asia, Americas & EMEA, and Specialty Materials. The Asia division will be responsible for the rubber blacks business in that region. Amit Kumar, currently Chief Manufacturing Officer, Asia, will be named President of the unit. The Americas & EMEA division will handle the rubber blacks business in those regions. John Davidson, currently Chief Sales & Marketing Officer,

The Asia Business Daily reports today that the Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency conducted a search and seizure of the headquarters of LD Carbon and other locations on May 26, 2026. As this blog has reported, LD Carbon recently filed a criminal complaint against its former chief executive and two senior finance officials alleging embezzlement and fraud. Police also raided the offices of Korea Environment Corporation, an agency under Ko

LD Carbon, a South Korean tire pyrolysis company, has filed a criminal complaint against its former chief executive and two senior finance officials, accusing them of embezzling corporate funds and misuse of government subsidies. The complaint was filed to the Suseo Police Station in Seoul and names former CEO Hwang Yong-kyung, CFO Lee Chung-jin, and Finance Manager Han Seung-yeon as suspects in an alleged scheme dating to 2022/2023. The charges involve unauthorized financial

Tire Business reports that Goodyear plans to shut down its tire plant in Fayetteville, NC by the end of 2027, a decision that will idle more than 2,000 workers. Details of the closure are still under negotiation with union officials. The plant opened in 1969 and has a capacity of 40,000 units per day of passenger car and light truck tires, according to TB data. Last year, Goodyear announced plans to transition the Danville, VA plant from commercial truck tires to the mixing a

European Rubber Journal reports today that Cabot plans to shut down its carbon black plant in Campana, Argentina and cease production on several lines at its carbon black plant in Botlek, Netherlands. Both plants produce both rubber blacks and specialty blacks. The moves, which were announced during the company's earnings call on May 6, are part of a strategic review following a sharp drop in earnings in the company's Reinforcement Materials business in Q2 FY26, which ended M

ERJ has an article highlighting recent comments by Orion SA's CEO Corning Painter regarding potential impacts of the geopolitical disruption in the Middle East on carbon black markets. While cautioning that the company has no unique insights into how long the Iranian conflict may last or where energy prices ultimately will settle, Painter said that "Western chemical industry constituents are clearly experiencing tangible benefits from the supply chain disruptions that have en

Carbon Black World 2026 is being held this week in Shanghai, and Notch will present a keynote address on the Year in Carbon Black 2026. CBW is always a comprehensive, well organized and well attended conference. These certainly are interesting times across all industries, and Notch's paper focuses in part on the challenges of forecasting in an uncertain macroeconomic environment. Hope to see you there.

Orion S.A. today announced it is increasing prices by up to 25% and introducing a variable surcharge to all of its Specialty segment customers. According to a company press release, this action is required because of rising costs, supply chain disruptions and feedstock cost volatility related primarily to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The price increase and new surcharges will become effective immediately, or as contracts allow.

Monolith Corporation (Lincoln, NE) has provided details on its future plans regarding its Olive Creek facility in Hallam, Nebraska. In a LinkedIn posting , Monolith's co-founder and CEO Rob Hanson said, "Following a technological breakthrough in 2025, we optimized our expansion plans for our Nebraska facility. This expansion is grounded in our belief in this technology, in our customers, our Nebraska community, and a relentless focus on manufacturing the critical materials we

Birla Carbon recently announced a new new production line at its carbon black facility in Trecate, Italy. This dedicated line will serve the purpose of finishing and packing of Continua Sustainable Carbonaceous Material (SCM), a circular material derived from end-of-life tires. With this launch, high-quality and consistent Continua SCM will be available in large volumes. The announcement follows the recent inauguration of phase one of Circtec's new tire recycling facility i

On February 4, Cabot Corporation held its earnings call for Q1 FY2026. During the call, Cabot's CEO Sean Keohane announced that Cabot plans to rationalize carbon black capacity in the Americas and Europe due to declining tire production levels caused mainly by tire imports from Asia. The weaker demand environment resulted in a protracted contracting season and year-over-year price reductions for carbon black in western regions and a loss of volumes in Europe. According to Ke

On January 27, Circtec held the opening ceremony for Phase 1 of its end-of-life tyre pyrolysis recycling facility at Delfzijl, the Netherlands. The plant is now in operation, recycling 50,000 tons of waste tyres per year into sustainable raw materials. The ceremony was attended by King Willem-Alexander, who officially commenced plant operations by feeding waste tyres into the recycling process himself. Other attendees included the Netherlands Deputy Prime Minister and Minist

Cabot Corporation announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with DUNLOP (Sumitomo Rubber Industries) to evaluate the commercial adoption of circular reinforcing carbons made with Cabot’s regenerated carbon technology. These materials are part of Cabot’s EVOLVE Sustainable Solutions and incorporate reclaimed carbon derived from the pyrolysis of end-of-life tires. Sumitomo is evaluating the circular reinforcing carbons as sustainable raw materials for it

Smithers has announced that the Carbon Black World 2026 conference will be held in Shanghai, China on April 22-23, 2026. The conference will be a hybrid in-person/virtual event. The Carbon Black World conference is held every year; this year it was held in Fort Worth, Texas. It brings together people from leading tire, MRG, carbon black, feedstock, and equipment companies for what is always a terrific meeting. And don't forget the Recovered Carbon Black Europe conference, be

Tokai Carbon recently achieved two major milestones in Thailand. The company: Completed the acquisition of the former Bridgestone carbon...

Birla Carbon today announced it will highlight the Continua line of sustainable carbonaceous materials produced from recycled tires at...

Cabot Corporation announced this week that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mexico Carbon Manufacturing S.A. de...

PCBL Chemical Limited has begun trial production for the first phase of a brownfield expansion at its carbon black plant in Chennai,...

Orion S.A. announced today it plans to discontinue production at three to five of its carbon black lines at multiple facilities in the...

Bridgestone Corporation announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sell Bridgestone Carbon Black (Thailand) Co., Ltd....