Africa Archives - Page 48 of 69 - Tyrepress

Africa

Posts

Apollo Tyres Profits Rocket 125%

Apollo Tyres Ltd has reported a 125 per cent increase in annual net profits, rising from 1.2 to 2.7 billion rupees (£33.42 million). Operating profits grew 50 per cent to 6.1 billion (£75 million), from 4.1 billion in 2006/07. Consolidated revenues grew by 9 per cent, while operating profit showed a growth of 50 per cent from 4.1 billion to 6.1 billion rupees. Net sales grew 9 per cent to 47 billion rupees. Apollo also detailed how its retread business is also booming – sales of DuraTread retreading materials grew 139 per cent in the period.

However, the company reported a worsening raw material situation, with crude and raw material prices rising sharply in the final quarter of the last financial year. At the beginning of the quarter crude was around $90 a barrel, while by the quarter end it had crossed $113/barrel. Rubber moved from 92 rupees/kg to 116 rupees/kg in the same period.

9th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyrexpo Africa Continues to Grow

The second staging of the Tyrexpo Africa exhibition was generally perceived to be successful by exhibitor companies, who welcomed an increased number of industry buyers and delegates at the recent exhibition in Johannesburg. Tyres & Accessories was there and this month brings you the exhibitor highlights in the context of the current business environment.

Independently audited figures released by show organiser ECI International confirm a healthy six per cent increase in visitor numbers, up to 2,478 compared to the inaugural event in 2006. 130 exhibitors occupied around 5,000 sq.m of exhibition space in the Sandton Convention centre, with a 40/60 split between African suppliers and those from overseas. China, with 35 individual exhibitors, was the major presence, heading a truly international line-up made up of more than 60 different countries.

South Africa is a middle-income emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources; well developed financial, legal, communications and transport sectors; a stock exchange that ranks among the 10 largest in the world; and a modern infrastructure supporting relatively efficient distribution of goods to major urban centres throughout the country.

However, growth has not been strong enough to lower South Africa’s high unemployment rate and the daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era – especially poverty and lack of monetary empowerment among the disadvantaged groups. South African economic policy is fiscally conservative but pragmatic focusing on targeting inflation and liberalising trade as a means to increase job growth and household income – which means there is definite opportunity for those willing to do business here.

One example of a company that has thrived in these conditions is South Africa’s Chemvulc Marketing, which celebrated 30 years in business at the show. Sales director Danny Kirsten were positive about their involvement in the show: “Being able to meet visitors from Africa and the surrounding countries face to face was a big plus as in some cases we were not aware of their business ventures. Another factor was that we were able to meet and conduct business with a number of international customers.”

A further satisfied business was Imex Tyres, who commented: “Our attendance at the expo has brought us major enquiries relating to various exports opportunities as well as new business prospects for our markets. We’ll be back in 2010.”

And Srinivasan Ramamurthy, head of international marketing for Elgitread of India commented: “We kept busy up on the second day of the show with quality enquiries from prospective customers and were able establish many new contacts.

Another company who will be returning for the next show in two years time is Dutch retreader and wholesaler Bandenmarkt, managing director Leen van’t Hof has already confirmed a doubling of stand space for 2010. He said: “Participating in Tyrexpo Africa was a pleasure. After the initial event in 2006, was somewhat visitor light, this year’s event was very well supported.

Joaquin Gonzalez, chief operating officer for Tire Group Inc of the United States, said he hoped the show would help expand his company’s trading presence in the region. “The Africa show, without a doubt, was a complete triumph for us, due to the high number of new customer leads that it generated.”

Up and up

Rowena Suthers, sales director for ECI, believes that the exhibition is growing in stature after a second successful staging: “The general feedback from exhibitors and visitors was that the show was a good deal better than 2006 and certainly growing in stature. The second day proved the busiest and again exhibitor feedback recognised the quality rather than quantity of visitors, which is generally in line with our other events in the UK and Asia.

“We have been very encouraged by the feedback so far and will be working hard to continue its development as a major event in the African tyre industry calendar. Tyrexpo Africa will be back in two years time, in March 2010,” she confirmed.

Exhibition stands at Tyrexpo Africa 2008 were of a particularly high calibre, reflecting substantial investment from principals, especially by Bandag, which celebrated its 50th anniversary at the show by winning the Platinum Award for Best Stand Design. Other winners were CFP Tyres, which clinched the Gold and Tandem/Techking Tyres and Tubestone, who shared the Silver award.

Overall, the show reflected a keen emphasis on OTR tyres for the important mining and construction industry in South Africa. Retreading companies such as Leadertread, Imex, and Elgitread, recognised this trend by emphasising specialist materials for the OTR and earthmoving sector. There was also a strong showing of passenger and truck tyres.

The workshop and depot equipment side of the business was better represented than in 2006, with a comprehensive presence from machinery and equipment suppliers including: Leaderquip, Snap-On, Wheelquip, Syco Machinery and Hofmann Megaplan.

The only consistent disappointment expressed by exhibitors and visitors was the absence of major domestic tyre manufacturers, who visited the show as delegates but did not feel able to support their industry by exhibiting.

8th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Quality Counts

Until recently the root cause of the OTR tyre shortage was under-production caused by increased demand for both finished OTR tyres and the raw materials need to make them. The latter just adding fuel to the OTR tyre price-increase fire that spontaneously combusts when demand exceeds supply. Since then, large scale manufacturers including Michelin, Bridgestone and Yokohama (to name but three) have pumped literally billions of dollars of investment into building new OTR tyre factories and expanding production at existing sites. However, these kinds of projects take time and in the interim, businesses reliant on OTR machinery have been looking further afield to source products.

Manufacturers in the emerging tyre production nations of India and China have been particularly quick off the mark in responding to the OTR tyre shortage. and some industry observers have been surprised at how quickly the Chinese manufacturers in particular have been able to radialise their production output. Tyres & Accessories recently visited the RTF Tyre Exhibition in Qingdao, China where literally dozens of companies are now offering radial OTR products.

Until recently the root cause of the OTR tyre shortage was under-production caused by increased demand for both finished OTR tyres and the raw materials need to make them. The latter just adding fuel to the OTR tyre price-increase fire that spontaneously combusts when demand exceeds supply. Since then, large scale manufacturers including Michelin, Bridgestone and Yokohama (to name but three) have pumped literally billions of dollars of investment into building new OTR tyre factories and expanding production at existing sites. However, these kinds of projects take time and in the interim, businesses reliant on OTR machinery have been looking further afield to source products.

Manufacturers in the emerging tyre production nations of India and China have been particularly quick off the mark in responding to the OTR tyre shortage. and some industry observers have been surprised at how quickly the Chinese manufacturers in particular have been able to radialise their production output. Tyres & Accessories recently visited the RTF Tyre Exhibition in Qingdao, China where literally dozens of companies are now offering radial OTR products.

When the US Department of Commerce put “anti-dumping” duties of up to 210 per cent on Chinese OTR imports in February, it closed the door on many Far Eastern OTR tyre manufacturers’ North American sales strategies. In light of the global OTR/earthmover tyre shortage these companies had been seeking to capitalize on their relatively low production costs by selling products into markets (like the US) where the shortage had pushed prices up. According to the US authorities the move was designed to stop “price distortion by Chinese exporters,” however another effect has been that this flow of OTR product has been redirected to other markets, including Europe and Africa.

Increased production and US restrictions mean Far Eastern tyremakers want to sell more OTR tyres in Europe

The figures available certainly seem to be in-keeping with the suggestion that premium manufacturers are leaving a gap in the market for cheaper competitors. The latest full-year ERMC Europool data for Western Europe shows that just over 134,000 OTR tyres were sold in the western European markets in 2007. However it is interesting to note that this actually represents a 6.6 per cent drop year-on-year. Broken down by application segment, it is clear that the 6.6 per cent overall drop is reflected across the board with two notable exceptions: Firstly, radial mechanical handling tyre sales grew roughly 5 per cent last year to approximately 23,000 units across Europe; and secondly radial crane tyre sales skyrocketed almost a fifth to over 17,000 units.

With no data to suggest that European market demand has reduced 6.6 per cent, and bearing in mind that these figures don’t include tyres produced outside Europe, the overall market drop could represent the gap in the market the imported tyre manufacturers are looking to fill. That said there is little in the way of evidence to show exactly how many tyres are being imported into Europe.

All this speculation about increased Far Eastern tyre product has led some global mining operations to conclude that the OTR tyre shortage will soon be over. Earlier this year, De Beers director Debbie Farnaby told Mining Weekly that she expects the shortage problems to be resolved by the end of 2008, despite earlier indications suggesting that the shortage of large OTR tyres would last two or three years longer.

During this interview Faranaby revealed that her company has been testing unidentified Far Eastern tyres at Venetia, De Beers’ largest South African diamond mine. However, just as interestingly (later in the same interview), Farnaby revealed a possible explanation as to why. The implication is that certain manufacturers appear to be offering preferential supply arrangements in exchange for information. “We won’t buy anything that’s not Michelin, we report everything that we get offered and, as a consequence, they’ve been very good in supplying us, and we have managed to keep all mines operational,” Farnaby told Mining Weekly. At the same time there are reports of Mining companies investing in increased tyre-making in partnership with tyre manufacturers so their investments can be repaid in kind with tyres.

The point is that those companies that don’t have such good relationships with manufacturers end up buying whatever they can source. And this does not always fulfil customer expectations.

Some customers report that tyres they expected to last 7000 hours in fact were useless after 1000 hours. While it is important not to tar all Far Eastern brush products with the same brush (some manufacturers are going to great lengths to demonstrate that they use premium materials and machinery in their tyres), this dramatic example is consistent with the worst reports T&A has encountered. Speaking off the record to one respected testing engineer revealed that with some exceptions, most Chinese radial OTR products he had tested do not yet offer the performance or retreadability that customers have come to expect from premium offerings.

Something similar appears to be true when it comes to high speed crane tyres. A year ago King’s Road Tyres’ Peter Gaster predicted that this market would soon reach saturation point: “In six months to a year from now the market with reach oversupply point. But you have to ask if all the products on the market are fit for purpose? One has to be sure that products are up to the job, especially when it comes to high-speed crane products.”

This view is further supported by the less than scientific anecdotal evidence provided by this month’s T&A question of the month. The overwhelmingly vast majority of those that answered our question (Has the European EM/OTR Market Reached Saturation Point?) answered “No – There may be more product than before, but I can’t get the right tyres.”

So on the one hand the OTR shortage may soon be over in some segment, but on the other hand that doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t continue to be a shortage of “the right kind of tyres.”

7th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT – A Touch Different

Dunlop’s latest addition to its uhp range is the SP Sport Maxx TT, the successor to the award-winning SP Sport Maxx and which incorporates a host of new features and advanced technologies.
The first of these is the addition of DuPont Kevlar Engineered Elastomer (EE) to apex of the tyre. Kevlar is a fibre that is five times stronger than steel, yet light in weight and its addition to the tyre apex compound creates a stiffer sidewall, which becomes more resistant to torsion, tension and heat and guarantees increased stability during cornering, as well as enhanced road feedback and more precision driving.
The compound is further enhanced by the use of motor sport-derived compound and fillers with particle sizes smaller than 100 nanometers – with one nanometer being one millionth of a millimetre. This ensures better bonding between the filler and rubber matrix, thus increasing the total surface, which in turn ensures that the tyre offers better performance in both adhesion and wear. The concrete benefits are numerous: improved wet and dry grip and braking, as well as longer mileage.

2nd May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Making OTR Tyres Last Longer

The ongoing global off-the-road (OTR) and earthmover (EM) tyre shortage continues to cause headaches for the quarrying and mining industries. Woeful tales of expensive tyres, big machines standing idle, lost production and reduced revenues come from all corners of the world – all for want of the right tyre. That’s why this month’s OTR and EM tyre feature sees Tyres & Accessories explore the range of options available for those seeking to help their customers keep their OTR machinery going.

The problem appears to be particularly acute in the largest tyre sizes. As a result some of the larger mining companies have been switching to using 180 tonne rather than 240 tonne trucks as the tyres are more easily accessible. Others are said to be in the process of trialling enormous 260 tonnes trucks as a way of cancelling out the productivity deficits they have encountered due to idle machinery. But all these are costly, time consuming and ultimately temporary fixes. Wouldn’t it just be better to make your existing casings last that bit longer?

Naturally, a great deal has been written about measures being taken to beat the problem. Some operators are hoarding tyres, some are fitting the next best size, some try second hand tyres (with one mining company getting stung by importing 144 dud end-of-life OTR tyres), while still others are reportedly running treads down to minus 5 per cent. There are other ways. Here are some examples of the key methods T&A has encountered.

Retreading: Vacu-Lug Adapts Fleet Experience for OTR Applications

Vacu-Lug Tyres is one example of a company that has been putting its experience in general fleet management to good practise in helping OTR operators lower their overall costs. “In essence it is simple; buy a good quality new tyre, ensure good tyre maintenance and then you will have a good quality casing to retread and greatly extend tyre life,” explained Billy Dillon who looks after a number of Vacu-Lug’s key OTR fleets. Vacu-Lug has adapted the processes and systems it developed for tyre management on the 30,000 vehicles and trailers it currently looks after to help maintain any type of fleet. According to the company, in the first instance it is essential to start with a good quality new tyre. Yokohama has just introduced a new radial 29.5-25 RT41 to the UK market. Following the introduction of the new RT41, 2400-35 and 2700-49 sizes are expected in due course. Whilst Vacu-Lug is obviously keen to offer products from its Yokohama range, the company also maintain fleets that use products from the other main manufacturers.

Vacu-Lug managing director, Tim Hercock explained that, in his opinion, most of the imported economy products that have entered the market in recent years are not suitable for retreading: “Their manufacturers have to save money somewhere and most have done so in the casing construction. They are essentially one-life tyres and whilst initially cheaper to buy will prove costly in the long-term. The products need replacing more frequently, and without retreading, disposal costs can climb. With a good quality new tyre and the right choice of retread it is possible to reduce operating costs by at least 20 per cent.” According to Hercock, it is important to change the new tyre early enough to ensure a second life – trying to squeeze the last few hours out of a large tyre carrying 50 tonnes can prove a costly exercise if the added strain damages the casing.

The choice of retread material is important and the solutions open to customers have grown in recent years. pre-cure has become more popular and at Vacu-Lug is now available for some of the largest sizes such as 2700-49. Those operators who manage their casings properly can be confident of the same casing being returned to them through the pre-cure process. “It is vital to ensure the right pattern and compound is used relative to the end-use and this is where a good dialogue with the retread manufacturer is important. The wrong choice can severely reduce operating hours and impact on other performance characteristics,” Tim Hercock continued.

Given Vacu-Lug’s strong position managing truck fleets in the waste industry, it is not surprising to find that many of these operators rely on them to manage their plant and machinery. The tough terrain and conditions on landfill and associated sites can cause rapid wear and high damage. Polyurethane tyre fill has traditionally been seen as the best way to reduce damage and prolong tyre life and Hercock points out that filled tyres are still suitable for retreading.

The global demand for OTR tyres has acted as a catalyst for some major changes and combined with ever increasing cost pressures most users have been forced to re-think their purchasing options. From Vacu-Lug’s position, the key to controlling operating costs is to have a properly worked out tyre management policy and a good working relationship with the right retread manufacturer.

Flat-Proofing: Zeus Triofill ‘Revolutionising’ Tyre Fill Market

Mention flat-proofing and names like Arnco and Carpenter spring to mind. In Europe the Zeus brand is right up there with them, but T&A has it on good authority that the new Zeus Triofill brand of flat-proofing is already making an impact on the market.

Triofill’s unique feature is that it is based on an innovative three component structure. Most tyre-fills are made up of two different types of polyurethane. Triofill adds a third element – that of granulated rubber, which according to the company, dramatically enhances its performance characteristics, particularly its physical strength. Rösler managing director, Martin Rösler explained that Triofill is greener, cleaner and more cost efficient, offering a greatly improved overall performance.

The new system features a completely redesigned pumping machine. It is also the first electrically driven tyre filling system of its kind, which is quieter and solvent free. According to the company it is easier and quicker to clean, more environmentally friendly and over 10 litres a minute faster than traditional pumps. The new Triofill system includes a flow metre that measures the exact content of the tyre to avoid over-filling, eliminating the need for weighing scales.

The clever thing about the Zeus system is that it runs in a very sound, environmentally friendly, closed loop model. This means that after virgin Triofill flat-proofing material is produced and used for the first time the company collects what would otherwise be a waste product and re-supplies to the customer for a reduced cost. This concept not only means the customer saves on the cost of flat-proofing their next tyres, but also helps the environment because there is not waster – and crucially – no environmental disposal charge.

How does using fill affect performance? The answer to that is a question of perspective. While it would be true to say that using fill (of any kind) reduces load carrying capacity and causes higher fuel consumption in some instances, most modern machinery operates in such a way that it the performance differential isn’t really noticeable. Compared with the huge problem of downtime, this theoretical negative could be considered as relatively insignificant.

From the Zeus perspective, Triofill represents the next generation of fill, in terms of the product’s design its method of application and the closed loop environmental model that surrounds it. The new method employs a completely different formulation that uses an entirely different approach to raw material usage. This is particularly revolutionary in the tyre-fill part of the market because the technology behind the majority of the differing products available has remained largely unchanged for the last couple of decades. Add to that environmental angle and increasingly green-conscious businesses are likely to be interested in a product that claims to tick all the boxes.

The Zeus brand of tyre fill finds its roots in the Dortmund-based Rösler group formed back in 1960 where it began life as a family based, local retreader to the European EM Tyre market. In the late 1970s when flat-proofing products first came to prominence, Rösler started making headway into researching the best way develop a product of its own to compete in this market. At the time the company started as it meant to continue, designing a product that was softer and more flexible than the competitors of the day. This suited the popular soft-sidewall Michelin radial EM tyres that dominated the market at the time, giving Zeus a competitive edge in Europe and providing the business inspiration for the company’s current progress.

Chains: RUD-Erlau Claims its Metal is Best Defence Against Tyre Damage

Tyre Protection Chains don’t need much explaining. The basic concept is to put a one-off investment into wrapping up tyres with chain and keep the tyres going longer by preventing the offending sharp waste, rock or ice from penetrating the tread or sidewall rubber. RUD-Erlau Group claim to be world market leader in this field with a 65 per cent share of the global tyre protection chain market, T&A got in touch to find out more about the humble chain.

Tyre Protection Chains (TPCs) were first developed in the fifties to meet the needs of the wheeled loader by specialist chain maker RUD-Erlau based in South East Germany. Over the years, the basic anti-skid snow chain has evolved in a more advanced tyre defence product in addition to a traction aid. As a result the company’s products can be found in mines and quarries across the globe – producing limestone in Europe, copper in Chile, iron ore in Australia and diamonds in Africa.

Where traction and manoeuvrability is a problem open-mesh TPCs are recommended to increase grip on the road surface. According to the company, the result is “more sure-footed operation and eliminating danger to personnel and property and reducing driver fatigue.”

In relatively dry conditions RUD-Erlau’s TPCs offer varying degrees of protection to match the environment. Stockpiling operations may require the light touch of open-mesh ring system. While close-meshed, case-hardened TPCs with full side wall protection enable loaders of all sizes to go fearlessly into the most extreme mining conditions. In fact, the RUD-Erlau is so confident of the level of protection its products offer company representatives showed T&A photos loaders fitted with Erlau TPCs running on flaming hot and cold steel slag.

The OTR tyre shortage has meant fitting TPCs makes financial sense in a much wider range of off-road quarrying and mining applications. The thinking is, why complicate your life, evaluating and experimenting with other solutions when, instead of hunting for suppliers and laying out good dollars on new tyres at inflated prices a one-off investment in some chains could potentially part worn tyre life indefinitely?

While figures vary from case to case RUD-Erlau gave a few interesting case studies: Amongst them it is interesting to note that a CAT 988B loader running on 36/65-33 DT’s in a German limestone quarry was getting through a set of tyres every 1200 hours at a cost to the operator of US$37,615 per set or US$31.35 every hour. For an investment of $56,200 the company fitted a set of RUD-Erlau Royal X16 TPCs, which extended the tyre life to 12,000 hours and reduced tyre costs to $3.13 per operating hour. Factoring in a conservative chain life of 10,000 hours ($5.62 per hour) the total hourly cost dropped to $8.75 – a saving of $22.60 (72%).

2nd May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Sales Reach $1 Billion in Q1 2008

Hankook has reported year on year sales growth of 18.4 per cent during the first quarter of 2008, delivering the company its first-ever quarterly sales exceeding US$1 billion. The company attained sales of KRW997.3 billion ($1.041 billion). Sales figures for the three-month period included an impressive upsurge in worldwide UHP sector sales of more than 40 per cent and sales to OE manufacturers growing by 15.7 per cent.

Sales to Europe grew by 25.5 per cent year-on-year, boosted by a massive 183 increase in year-on-year sales to the Russian market. Sales to North America also recorded an 18.1 per cent year-on-year increase. In addition, sales to Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East increased year-on-year by 22.5 per cent.

1st May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

11th Hour Reprieve

Swiss based alloy wheel manufacturer Uniwheels has acquired the European interests of Germany’s ATS Group, former subsidiary of South African company Tiger Wheels. Included in the purchase are the company’s affiliated production factories in Germany and Poland as well as the globally recognised ATS brand name. We can only speculate at the purchase price – Uniwheels has chosen not to disclose this – and a separate solution is sought for the company’s US subsidiary, ATS Light Alloy Wheels (Alabama), Inc.

“With Uniwheels we have found an investor, who is taking over the shares of the subsidiaries of the insolvent ATS Beteiligungs GmbH,” commented Tobias Hoefer, representative of the Group’s insolvency administrator, Hack Hoefer. “With that in Europe all jobs and sites of the Group can be kept. This is the best possible result for the creditors and the employees.”

22nd April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

From Racetrack to Motorway

As the official tyre supplier of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship, Dunlop is confident it knows what it takes to create a truly high performance tyre. The technology required to create such tyres is not only used on racetracks across the UK; it also resides in the tyres used by millions every day.

There was a time when the motto ‘race on Sunday, buy on Monday’ meant exactly that – sixty years ago a motorist could more or less purchase any car or component seen out on the track the previous weekend. These days competition cars are somewhat farther removed from their road going counterparts, but Dunlop says that in spite of this it strives to keep the race on Sunday, buy on Monday spirit alive as it believes on-track rubber developments can benefit every driver.

Most of the time BTCC drivers compete on treadless slick tyres, so one may be tempted to ask how such an item can help the development of a road tyre. The answer is straightforward – a tyre without tread is, by necessity, more dependent upon its compound to deliver the correct amount of grip. Tyre longevity, or lack of, also becomes more pronounced. Sensors allow data from the tyres to be read, and when fed into a computer Dunlop’s road engineers can study how the rubber behaves when pushed to its maximum.

22nd April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

May 2008 – Worth the Wait

We couldn’t bring it to you in April, but May’s edition has all the Tyrexpo Africa news you’ve been waiting for. Don’t miss out on the detailed show news from the second Tyrexpo to be held in Johannesburg – right here in our Tyrexpo Africa review.

11th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop Tyres International – ‘Investigation Good for Consumers’

CEO of South Africa’s Dunlop Tyres International, Dr Luis Ceneviz, has responded positively to the actions carried out by the country’s Competition Commission to ensure anti-competitive behaviour is regulated. A statement from Dr Ceneviz was released after police and investigators from the commission raided Dunlop Tyres International’s head office in the city of Durban on April 4.

“During the raid, Dunlop remained fully co-operative and complied with any request made by investigators for any hard copy or electronic documentation,” said Cenevis. “At this point we are not able to give any further comment on the issue and have instructed our attorneys, who will be dealing with the matter.

11th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Investigation Focusing on Tyre Price Fixing in South Africa

International News

On April 9 South Africa’s Competition Commission announced it had searched the offices of Dunlop Tyres International and Bridgestone South Africa to collect evidence of tyre industry price fixing in the South African market. Also searched were the offices of tyre industry association the SA Tyre Manufacturers Conference. News of this action was reported by Reuters the following day.

“We can confirm that the raid took place. We will cooperate fully with the commission,” commented Bridgestone spokesman Romano Daniels to Reuters. “We are not concerned about the investigation. We don’t believe we conducted ourselves in an untoward way.” Dunlop has yet to comment on the day’s events.

10th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Sameer Importing Chinese Tyres to Meet Local Demand

International News, News

Kenyan manufacturer Sameer Africa has begun importing tyres from China to meet a strong demand for low priced products in its home market. This, however, says Kenya’s Business Daily newspaper, is a measure placing the company in deeper debt as it must borrow heavily to pay invoices. The company installed a new £84,000 light truck tyre assembly machine last July and also increased capacity, however the company continues to struggle, as it has since changing its name from Firestone to Yana tyres three years ago.

“We were not making enough money from our tyre production unit so we borrowed to finance the importation of tyres that we don’t make” said Sameer managing director, Eric Kimani. The Chinese brands imported, says Mr. Kimani, include Dyna and Triangle. “The tyres are affordable but very durable. When we import we don’t just bring anything, we buy quality,” he added.

8th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Towell Auto Centre Opens 16th Bridgestone Outlet in Oman

Towell Auto Centre LLC, exclusive Bridgestone distributor in Oman, has made further inroads into the national market with the opening of a new Bridgestone ‘Tyre Care Plus’ (TCP) facility in Barkha on April 2. The new centrally located outlet is Towell Auto’s 16th TCP outlet in Oman, and Towell believes the outlet represents an ideal model for a stand-alone tyre retail centre.

In attendance at the opening ceremony were Mr. Shoichi Sakuma, president of Bridgestone Middle East & Africa FZE, along with senior officials from Bridgestone and Towell Auto Centre. Mr. Sakuma along with Mr. Riyadh Ali Sultan, general manager of Towell Auto Centre, inaugurated the new TCP unit before a tour of the centre’s facilities and services was given.

3rd April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Second Tyrexpo Africa Grows in Stature

The second Tyrexpo Africa exhibition has been voted a success by exhibitor companies who, according to exhibition organisers, welcomed an increased number of industry buyers and delegates to Johannesburg’s Sandton Centre at the beginning of March. Exhibiting for the second time at the show, Stamford Tyres European trading division – Sumo Firenza reported a successful show with particular interest being shown in the Firenza range of tyres by visitors from both Africa and throughout the world.

Independently audited figures released by show organiser ECI International confirm a healthy six per cent increase in visitor numbers, up to 2,478 compared to the inaugural event in 2006 130 exhibitors occupied around 5,000 sq.m of exhibition space in the Sandton Convention centre, with a 40/60 split between domestic southern African suppliers and those from overseas. China, with 35 individual exhibitors, was the major presence, heading a truly international line-up made up of more than 60 different countries.

27th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Dear Prime Minister – Conti Asks Tanzania’s Govt. to Aid GTEA

Continental is reported to have requested the government of Tanzania take action to aid the moribund General Tyre East Africa (GTEA), in which the German tyre major holds a 26 per cent share. Furthermore, Conti is said to have informed Tanzania’s Prime Minister, Mr. Mizengo Pinda, that without assistance a complete closure of GTEA may be required by March 31, 2008.

An article that appeared in East African Business Week on March 10 indicates that, according to “reliable information”, Continental wrote to Mr. Pinda in mid-February, asking his government to honour the commitments agreed upon nine months earlier. The country’s sole tyre manufacturer suspended its 400 employees without pay towards the end of 2007, and is said to need at least US$10 million before production can resume. However, Mr. Said Nguba, press secretary to Mr. Pinda, told the business newspaper in early March that he had no knowledge of the letter. “I’m not in office and I’ve yet come across such information,” stated Nguba.

12th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors