African Importer Kingsway to Enter Retreading Sector

Kenya’s Business Daily newspaper reports Kingsway Tyres intends to open its own retreading factory by May 2010. The facility is anticipated to produce 1,000 truck and bus retreads per month, giving it’s the largest capacity of any retreading plant in the country. The tyre importer currently controls 25 per cent of the local market, the Business Daily comments. “With the new retread factory, we are planning to increase the market share to 35 per cent in the next five years,” stated Kingsway managing director Manoj Shah. The company has invested Sh50 million (£404,000) in the new factory.” Shah added that in the new plant Kinsgway is “introducing a new technology that could prolong the mileage span of a retread to almost 90 per cent."

In its report the Business daily notes that the retreading companies it contacted did not provide information on their daily output, yet “sources” informed the paper that the highest current monthly output at a Kenyan retreader is 660 tyres.