| Kureha Corporation | |
| Native Name: | 株式会社クレハ |
| Native Name Lang: | ja |
| Type: | Public KK |
| Isin: | JP3271600003 |
| Hq Location City: | Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku,Tokyo, 103-8552 |
| Hq Location Country: | Japan |
| Key People: | Yutaka Kobayashi (President and CEO) |
| Industry: | Chemicals |
| Revenue: | JPY 147.3 billion (FY 2017) (US$ 1.39 billion) (FY 2017) |
| Net Income: | JPY 9.7 billion (FY 2017) (US$ 91.5 million) (FY 2017) |
| Num Employees: | 4,374 (consolidated, as of March 31, 2018) |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Footnotes: | [1] [2] |
is a Japanese manufacturer of specialty chemicals, polymers and agrichemicals.[3]
Kureha Chemical Industries is a member of the Mizuho keiretsu.
One of the company's long-term investments is in polyglycolic acid (PGA). The company developed a mass scale manufacturing technique for the chemical, which has been a development project of the company since the early 90s. The company has stated a strategy of committing to invest in PGA for a long period, patiently waiting for market demand to develop. To manufacture PGA, the company invested 100 million in a manufacturing facility in Belle, West Virginia to be located nearby a Dupont plant that produces glycolic acid, a primary feedstock for PGA.[4]
Kureha is the world's largest producer of polyphenylene sulfide, a heat-resistant polymer is used in industrial applications such as automotive electronics.[4] The polymer its produced at the company's site in Iwaki, Japan[5] and in Wilmington, United States by Fortron Industries, a joint venture of Kureha and Celanese.[6]