Kureha Corporation (株式会社クレハ, Kabushiki-gaisha Kureha) 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.[4] The company has stated a strategy of committing to invest in PGA for a long period, patiently waiting for market demand to develop.[4] 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]