Kureha Corporation

Kureha Corporation (株式会社クレハ) is a Japanese manufacturer of specialty chemicals, polymers and agrichemicals.

Corporate affairs
Kureha Chemical Industries is a member of the Mizuho keiretsu.

Polyglycolic acid
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.

Polyphenylene sulfide
Kureha is the world's largest producer of polyphenylene sulfide, a heat-resistant polymer is used in industrial applications such as automotive electronics. The polymer its produced at the company's site in Iwaki, Japan and in Wilmington, United States by Fortron Industries, a joint venture of Kureha and Celanese.