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Filed under: Trends , Plants/Manufacturing , Earnings/Financials If you were looking at carbon fiber as the magical lightweight solution to the parallel automotive woes of low power-to-weight ratios and high fuel consumption, we have some potentially disappointing news for you. Two of the world's largest suppliers of carbon fiber have announced that they are raising their prices. And not by a little, either, with the going rate for the high-tech material rising by 10 to 30 percent in one shot. The simultaneous announcement from Toray Industries Inc. (the #1 supplier of carbon fiber) and Mitsubishi Rayon Co. (the third largest) marks the first time both companies have universally raised their prices at the same time. The development would border on price-fixing if not for the fact that the second biggest carbon fiber manufacturer, Teijin Ltd., didn't participate. However Teijin is expected to announce its own price hike sometime this week, as well. We all expected prices to drop...
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Filed under: Green , Japan , Tech On the surface, carbon fiber sounds like a wonder-product which can replace much of the heavy metal, especially steel, that makes up the vast majority of nearly every automobile's structure. Dig a bit deeper, however, and there are a few flies in CF's ointment that make it very difficult to use in vehicles: price, supply and the time it takes to mold a the weaved material. Japan's big three carbon fiber producers are tackling each of these issues in a number of ways. First, the price of CF is expected to become more competitive as both carbon cloth goes down and rolled sheet steel goes up. What's more, as additional CF producing plants come online in the coming years, both the price and availability should improve. Third, new molding processes are being developed which could reduce the time it takes to produce a CF part from hours to minutes. Carbon fiber is expected to ease the transition to more fuel efficient vehicles as it weights a...
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