is a Japanese manufacturer of chemicals, fibers and other materials. Their main manufacturing facilities are located in

Kurashiki, Okayama is a historic city located in western Okayama Prefecture, Japan, sitting on the Takahashi River, on the coast of the Inland Sea. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 483,576 and a population density of 1,400 persons per ...

. The company's Tokyo administrative offices are located in Otemachi, Chiyoda in the Ote Center Building and its Osaka offices are located in the Umeda Hankyu Building). , Kuraray was the sole worldwide producer of

Vectran Vectran is a manufactured fiber, spun from a liquid-crystal polymer (LCP) created by Celanese Corporation and now manufactured by Kuraray. Chemically it is an aromatic polyester produced by the polycondensation of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and 6-hydr ...

liquid crystal polymer Liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) are polymers with the property of liquid crystal, usually containing aromatic rings as mesogens. Despite uncrosslinked LCPs, polymeric materials like liquid crystal Elastomer, elastomers (LCEs) and liquid crystal n ...

(LCP) fibre. The company is listed in the first section of

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed co ...

and is a member of the

Nikkei 225 The Nikkei 225, or , more commonly called the ''Nikkei'' or the ''Nikkei index'' (), is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It has been calculated daily by the '' Nihon Keizai Shimbun'' (''The Nikkei'') newspaper since 1950 ...

stock market index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures a stock market, or a subset of the stock market, that helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance. Two of the ...

. Kuraray is a member of the

Mizuho Mizuho () literally means "abundant rice" in Japanese and "harvest" in the figurative sense. It was also an ancient name of Japan. It might refer to: Places * Mizuho, Gifu, a city in Gifu * Mizuho, Tokyo, a town in Tokyo * Mizuho Plateau in A ...

keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. In the legal sense, it is a type of informal business group that are loosely organized alliances within the social world of Japan's business community. The ''ke ...

History

In April 2015, Kuraray acquired the Australian manufacturer of biobased barrier films Plantic Technologies. In September 2017, Kuraray acquired

Calgon Carbon Calgon Carbon Corporation is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based company that manufactures and markets products that remove contaminants and odors from liquids and gases, both for industrial, municipal, and consumer markets. Calgon Carbon's product l ...

for $1.1 billion, an activated carbon maker based in Pittsburgh. In February 2021, Kuraray signed the global framework of the

United Nations Global Compact The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding United Nations pact to encourage businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The UN Global Compact is a princ ...

Product Offerings

Various products are described below: *

Clarino is a brand name for artificial leather manufactured by Kuraray Co., Ltd. of Japan. It is commonly used in gloves, footwear, handbags, and law enforcement duty gear. Versions are made that simulate suede and top-grain leather. Being a man-made ...

* EVAL * Felibendy (

nonwoven fabric Nonwoven fabric is a fabric-like material made from staple fibre (short) and long fibres (continuous long), bonded together by chemical, mechanical, heat or solvent treatment. The term is used in the textile manufacturing industry to denote fabri ...

of Sophista composite fiber, see below) * Genestar * MOWIOL * MOWIFLEX * MOWITAL / PIOLOFORM * KURARAY POVAL * Septon * Sophista (fiber:

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...

core, ethylene vinyl alcohol-coated) *

* Butacite® / TROSIFOL brand

polyvinyl butyral Polyvinyl butyral (or PVB) is a resin mostly used for applications that require strong binding, optical clarity, adhesion to many surfaces, toughness and flexibility. It is prepared from polyvinyl alcohol by reaction with butyraldehyde. The majo ...

Gallery

Incidents

In May 2018, an explosion occurred in Kuraray's

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

plant in the US, injuring 21 workers. The plant is the world's largest ethylene vinyl alcohol plant. Kuraray agreed to pay a total of $92 million in settlement to the affected employees. In September 2019, a plasticizer leaked from Kuraray's plant in Fayetteville to the

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Carol ...

, forcing the Brunswick County to stop drawing water from the river.

References

External links

Official global website

Kuraray America, Inc.

Kuraray Europe GmbH
Chemical companies based in Tokyo Textile companies of Japan Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Japanese companies established in 1926 Chemical companies established in 1926 Companies based in Osaka Prefecture {{japan-company-stub