Now one of the largest tyre-producing countries in the world, China has an indisputable influence on the direction of global tyre trade. The home of both fast-growing up-and-coming brands as well as a burgeoning domestic market, this tag chronicles China’s involvement with the tyre business.
Kenda Rubber has begun construction of a passenger car tyre factory alongside its existing Yun-Lin plant in Taiwan. The new factory, reports the China Economic News Service, will enter production in the second quarter of 2011 and reach a daily capacity of approximately 5,000 tyres by the end of 2011. The company also produces passenger car tyres in China and Vietnam.
Production capacity at Lanxess’ butyl rubber facility in Zwijndrecht, Belgium is to be expanded by ten per cent to meet growing global demand for butyl and halobutyl synthetic rubber. The company has announced its intention to invest 20 million euros to lift annual capacity by 14,000 tonnes to around 149,000 tonnes, with the required work being mainly undertaken during a scheduled plant turnaround in the third quarter of 2011. The changes necessary to accommodate this higher capacity are anticipated to be in place and completed in the second quarter of 2012, and Lanxess comments the plant will produce a “superior quality” of butyl rubber.
Bloomberg reports that natural rubber prices continued rising for the third straight day on fears that heavy rains will hurt output in Thailand. Tokyo rubber futures jumped 1.5 per cent on Thursday after a 3.8 per cent rise earlier in the week. A monsoon is dumping heavy rains on many parts of Thailand, the world’s largest natural rubber producer, and are not expected to dissipate soon.
Goodyear has named Billy Taylor as the new plant manager of its Fayetteville, North Carolina, manufacturing facility, reports Tire Review. Taylor, who formerly held the same position at the company's plant in Lawton, Oklahoma, replaces Tim Frosell, who had been plant manager in Fayetteville since 2007. Frosell will become manufacturing director at Goodyear's plant in Pulandian, China.
Germany is not just Europe’s largest single tyre market – sales of wheel balancing weights there account for a large proportion of the region’s total sales of this product, so a German market presence is naturally a very good thing indeed. Therefore it has understandably concerned UK manufacturer Trax JH Ltd that it has been unable to sell zinc weights into Germany since European directive 2000/53/EC came into effect on July 1, 2005. All this is set to change, however. Trax is tooling up to begin volume production of an innovative new steel wheel weight, and the company’s sights are firmly set on the German market.
The 8th annual China International Tire Expo – CitExpo – will be held at Shanghai Everbright Convention and Exhibition Center this September 8-10. According to Wilko Fong, managing director of show operator Reliable International Exhibition Services, the number of registered exhibitors is expected to exceed last year’s CitExpo, with more than 300 exhibitors expected, covering 21,000 square meters of space over three halls.
This is a short extract. Tyrepress and Tyres & Accessories subscribers can log in below to read the full article.
If you are not yet a Tyrepress or Tyres & Accessories subscriber, you can change that here.
Becoming a member has benefits such as:
The company formerly known as Dunlop Nigeria, now known as DN Tyre and Rubber Plc, is looking an increasingly unlikely candidate for reopening its tyre manufacturing plant – shut since December 2008 – with a request for a governmental intervention fund of 10 billion naira as yet unheeded and the company searching buyers for its “multi-billion naira” manufacturing equipment.
An article on the South African website Business Report reported on the ruling of the High Court in South Africa to set aside the decision, made in 2007 by the Trade and Industry Ministry, to terminate anti-dumping probes against Chinese tyre exporters, bringing "fair competition" to the tyre manufacturing industry.
Having opened late in 2009, Dunlop Aircraft Tyres’ joint venture distribution and retreading facility, Dunlop Taikoo (Jinjiang) Aircraft Tyres Company Limited is expanding its sales department in anticipation of coming growth in Chinese aeronautics. The company has appointed Jenny Chen as a technical sales manager, joining the company from the Guangzhou office of P&R International, where for over four years she was business development manager with responsibility for the Chinese aviation marketplace. She is tasked with generating new business as well as providing account management to existing airline and MRO customers throughout China.
Shandong Linglong reports that despite import restrictions upon Chinese tyres in a number of markets including the US, Argentina and India, the company has relied upon a “flexible marketing strategy” and introduced new products to counter any resulting downturn. And the company’s approach appears to be working – according to Shandong Linglong, between January and April 2010 the total amount of foreign exchange it earned through exports has grown 56.47 per cent year-on-year. This is, the company states, a sufficient amount to have enabled it to already realise its 2010 export target.
In June 2010, Pirelli launched its new Chinese logo at a ceremony in Beijing attended by automotive industry executives, celebrity guests plus Chinese and international media. Pirelli describes the event as a “truly historic moment” that serves “as a testament to Pirelli’s product superiority and continued commitment to the Chinese market.”
After eight month of market research and development Westlake Central Europe launched the SW612 light truck winter tyre at Reifen 2010 in Essen, Germany. The new tyre, which is produced by China’ Hangzhou ZhongCe Rubber Co., Ltd.,, has reportedly been especially developed to cater to Central European requirements. The design and structure of the tyre is said to have been “hammered-out” by well-known premium brand technicians and compound experts, while Westlake distributors in Germany and Austria influenced the specification, look, feel and size range.
After the launch Guorong Ge, vice president of Hangzhou ZhongCe Rubber assured customers that Central Europe will — in addition to China and the United States of America — become a “top priority region” for ZhongCe Rubber “with immediate effect” and that the SW612 was only the beginning of a series of new tyres especially developed for Central Europe.
At an Exane BNP Paribas seminar on June 11, Michelin outlined its intention to double passenger car and light truck tyre capacity in growth regions by 2012 and to increased truck tyre capacity by 40 per cent within this timeframe. This growth will in part be facilitated by the construction of three greenfield plants – a new US$800 million truck tyre facility in India, an $800 million passenger car and truck tyre factory in China, and a passenger car tyre facility in Brazil. All three plants are anticipated to enter production in 2012.
Tire Review reports that Goodyear has named Damon Audia, Scott Honnold and Jenny Wang to new leadership positions. Audia, senior vice president of finance and treasurer, was elected senior vice president of finance for the company’s Asia Pacific region, which is headquartered in Shanghai, China. Audia replaces Jenny Wang, who has accepted a new position in the company’s Asia Pacific operations. Honnold has been elected vice president and treasurer, replacing Audia. Honnold was previously assistant treasurer, responsible for Goodyear’s capital market activities.
In 2009 the Russian market for various types of vehicle tyres (including industrial equipment, tractors and combined harvesters) totalled 33 million units, down a reported 36 per cent. According to a report published in the CRIA published magazine, China Rubber, the 2008 figure was 51.4 million. The fall in value of these tyres was even steeper, down 40 per cent at 95.14 billion rubles (2008: 157.7 billion rubles). According to the research, the main reason for the market decline is directly related to the economic crisis and its knock-on effects on the entire Russian vehicle transport sector.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
