An inclusive idealist. I am a Masters graduate from the University of Westminster. I’ve read over 1000 books, traveled to every province in China as a backpacker, and volunteered with several NGOs in Southeast Asia. I have many years of working experience as a journalist in the auto industry.
On the afternoon of 17 August, Yu Aihua, Party Secretary of Hefei City, Anhui Province, held talks with Christian Kötz, Head of the Continental Tyres division. Tyrepress China learned that Yu and Kötz talked about “accelerating the construction of the fourth phase of the (Hefei factory) project” and planning the follow-up “automotive electronics, R&D centre project”.
In May this year, China’s environmental protection department imposed a penalty on the Cooper Kunshan factory, restricting production on the grounds of violating the “Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law”. At the same time, the tyre manufacturing base was fined 240,000 yuan.
On 9 August, Shen Jinrong, chairman of ZC Rubber, went to the factory in Thailand to inspect the work, and discussed with the senior executives of the Thailand factory on increasing production and reducing costs.
Recently, Hankook stated that it would carry out technical transformation on the TBR production line of the Chongqing factory. Specifically, the tyre manufacturer plans to invest 47 million yuan (about £5.1 million; €5.9 million) to increase the daily production capacity of TBR from 2,560 to 2,960 (annual production capacity from 900,000 to 1.036 million) within 16 months. Hankook says the project will not add new land and will be built in its existing factory workshop.
On 3 August, 68 items of machinery and equipment of Aeolus were put up for auction online. Equipment auctioned included: setting machines and vulcanisation tanks, and the base price is 2.46 million yuan (about £268,000; €311,000).
Aeolus has set up two new subsidiaries in Chile and Indonesia to be responsible for tyre import and export and wholesale. Tyrepress China learned that the tyre manufacturer wants to “adapt to the needs of strategic planning and business development, promote the company’s exchanges and cooperation with the international market, continuously expand business fields, accelerate the process of internationalisation, and enhance international competitiveness.”
On July 27, Sentury revealed that it expects to commence construction for its Morocco factory soon. Tyrepress China has learned that the general manager of the tyre manufacturer is “in Morocco preparing for the start of the tyre factory”.
Official data for June 2023 shows that China’s tyre makers exported 56.69 million tyres during the month, a year-on-year increase of 16.7 per cent. These products had an export value of approximately 13.737 billion yuan (£1.49 billion, US$1.92 billion) and were thus 24 per cent more valuable than the tyres exported in June 2022.
Recently, the United States Department of Commerce’s anti-dumping review investigation on PCR tyres produced in Thailand has a preliminary result. Tyrepress China notes that the new developments are positive for Thailand’s tyre factories.
Prinx Chengshan announced its operating conditions in the first half of 2023. The tyre company said that its net profit in the first half of the year was between 285 million yuan (about £31 million; €36 million) and 333 million yuan (about £36 million; €42 million), an increase of about 80-110 per cent over the same period in 2022.
Recently, the World Brand Summit 2023 was held in Beijing. Tyrepress China learned that nine tyre manufacturing companies had been listed in “China’s 500 Most Valuable Brands”.
Doublestar, Guizhou Tyre, Linglong, Triangle, and Aeolus recently disclosed their semi-annual results forecasts. Doublestar was in the red in the first half of 2023. The other four tyre companies estimated that their performance would rise. Tyrepress China found that adjusting market and product structure became essential reasons for the net profit growth of several Chinese tyre companies. At the same time, the decline in raw material prices and shipping costs benefited tyre manufacturers in the first half of the year.
Tyrepress China has learned that Chinese tyre manufacturer Haohua is preparing to invest US$500 million to build a tyre factory in Binh Phuoc, Vietnam. The products produced will cover semi-steel radial tyres and all-steel radial tyres.
Recently, Chinese listed companies have released their 2022 annual reports. Tyrepress China conducted a statistical analysis of the annual report data of 10 tyre companies. Among the companies included in the analysis list, Sailun, Linglong, Triangle, Huayi (the parent company of Double Coin), Aeolus, and Jiangsu General are listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Guizhou Tyre, Doublestar, and Sentury are listed companies on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The data of Prinx Chengshan comes from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Michelin’s Shenyang factory recently stated that it would change the post-processing project. Tyrepress China found that after adjusting the product structure, the tyre manufacturing base significantly increased the production of silent tyres and reduced the production of self-sealing tyres.
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