Author: RubberWorld

Bolder Industries, Port of Antwerp-Bruges has received final permitting to build Bolder’s first European manufacturing facility, a commercial-scale recovered carbon black site in the NextGen District at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.
This site will produce two ISCC PLUS-certified, mass-balanced and commercially proven products: BolderBlack®, a sustainable and traceable recovered carbon black validated in more than 3,000 commercial applications across tires, rubber goods, plastics, inks and coatings, and BolderOil®, an advanced pyrolysis oil serving as a low-carbon feedstock for fuels, industrial process applications and chemical production. Both products are already in active commercial use with Bolder’s North American customers.

The four-day CHINAPLAS 2026 successfully concluded on April 24 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC), Hongqiao, Shanghai, PR China. This premier annual event of the global plastics and rubber industries set a new record, with an exhibition area of 400,000 sqm, 5,104 high-quality local and overseas exhibitors, and 350,189 professional visitors. It fully demonstrated the strong resilience and innovativeness vitality of the plastics and rubber supply chain, injecting momentum into the high-quality development of the industry.

NEXEN TIRE announced that it has been selected to supply original equipment (OE) tires for the facelifted version of Hyundai Motor Company’s flagship sedan, ‘The New Grandeur.’

The supplied tire is N’FERA Supreme S, NEXEN TIRE’s UHP(Ultra High Performance) tire for premium vehicles. Following its supply of OE tires for the initial version of the seventh-generation Grandeur, NEXEN TIRE will continue its collaboration with Hyundai Motor Company on its flagship sedan through the supply of OE tires for the facelifted version.

Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT) has re-appointed Mr. Minoo Mehta as the Head of BKT USA operations, effective May 15th, 2026.

Hankook Tire & Technology (Hankook Tire) hosted a kick-off event on June 4 at its state-of-the-art R&D center, Hankook Technodome in Daejeon, for the national project titled ‘Development of Tire Manufacturing Technologies Using Sustainable Materials.’ The initiative is being carried out as part of the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE)’s 2026 Environmental Technology Development Program.

The project seeks to accelerate Korea’s circular economy by securing high-quality recycled raw materials from end-of-life tires and advancing their commercialization in tire manufacturing. It consists of two key workstreams: the development of technologies for producing premium recycled feedstock from waste tires and the establishment of tire manufacturing technologies utilizing sustainable materials.

In a recent 2025 Global Rubber Machinery Industry Report, MESNAC once again ranked No.1 worldwide in rubber machinery sales with $810 million in revenue. This marks the fourth consecutive year that the company has secured the top position, further strengthening its leadership in the global market.

Europe’s industrial future will depend on continued investment in research, innovation and technical education, according to a Borealis news release highlighting the winners of the 2026 Borealis Innovation Award. This year’s top award went to students Denise Lehner and Nikola Jelinek for research identifying fungi capable of biodegrading plastics. Second place was awarded to Anna Decker and Lina-Marie Salzmann, whose work on plastic-drying processes demonstrated energy savings of more than 80% compared with standard methods. Third place went to Malik Grovogui and Dominik Henhapel for developing bio-based materials for reusable food packaging.