TOKYO—JSR Corp.'s elastomers unit has posted a 7 percent, year-on-year increase in operating income, to $9 million, on net sales down 7 percent to $404 million for the first quarter of its fiscal year that ended March 31
The performance included a surge in net sales volumes of solution styrene butadiene during the three months to June 30, the Japanese group reported.
Overall, however, earnings at JSR's elastomers business were held back by the rapid appreciation of the yen, which largely offset “improving buy-sell spreads.”
The business was further impacted by a “continued stagnation in domestic tire demand,” according to JSR's report, which also noted a 4 percent fall in elastomer volumes to 156,000 metric tons.