Major spinning firm Toyobo Co. will shift the emphasis of its business from traditional mainstay textile products to more profitable nontextile areas such as chemicals and biotechnology-related products, according to company officials.
The company wants to reduce the proportion of sales in the textile business to between 42 percent and 43 percent of overall sales in its 2003 business year, which ends March 31, 2004, from the projected proportion of about 50 percent in the current 2000 business year, they said.
It is the first time the company has planned to lower textile product sales below 50 percent of overall sales since its establishment in 1914, they said.
Toyobo has been struggling due to fierce competition from cheaper textiles, particularly clothing fibers imported from China and Southeast Asian nations.
In that sector, the company will reduce the proportion of general-purpose textile products with low profit margins and strengthen high-performance fiber products for industrial use.
Toyobo also aims to expand sales in nontextile areas -- such as films, resins and medical products -- by 10 percent each year from April, the officials said.