China Archives - Page 184 of 240 - Tyrepress

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.

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TGI Opens Management Office in China

Tire Group International (TGI) opened an office in Qingdao, China, which will be managed by Jing Dong Ling, who was most recently a quality and mixing engineer with Yellow Sea Tire. Ling will oversee TGI’s private label production in China under the Cosmo, Luna and Industar brands.

“We are now building three private labels in China. The addition of Mr. Ling will ensure that TGI’s quality standards are being met and that our supply chain is being supervised directly at the source,” said Tony Gonzalez, TGI’s CEO. “We expect this move will help us better serve our distributors throughout the world with more consistent quality.” (Tire Review/Akron)

20th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Rubber Exports Causing Indian Tyre Manufacturers Angst

Voices of concern amongst India’s tyre industry have been raised in response to the national Rubber Board’s perceived encouragement of rubber exports. A three per cent decrease in domestic natural rubber production before the end of the current fiscal year (March 31, 2008) has been projected, and it is this, along with dramatically higher rubber exports, that is creating a sense of unease. Natural rubber exports almost doubled in January to 7,522 tonnes, compared with 3,886 tonnes in December 2007, on the back of lower domestic prices.

Currently the price for India sourced rubber is about £0.10 a kilogram lower than prevailing world prices, and experts believe that if current global prices continue their upward journey a total of more than 40,000 tonnes of rubber may be exported from India during the current financial year. Given that India’s tyre industry consumes 55 per cent of local natural rubber supplies, and difficulties already exist in meeting domestic demand, the industry’s concern over additional exports is understandable.

20th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodway Keeps Cool With Premium Retread Range

Supercool, the flagship retread range produced by Goodway Rubber is, says the Malaysian based company, the product of many years’ innovation and invention, guided by a single dominant principle – caring for the people who produce the product and those who use it.

As Malaysia’s largest retreader and manufacturer of rubber compounds, Goodway believes its strength stems from its people, and the company boasts having some of the industry’s finest minds as part of its team, who carry with them a wealth of hands-on experience and industry knowledge. The fruit of this fortuitous combination is, in Goodway’s own words, uncompromising safety and durability.

20th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyrexpo Africa Exhibitor Numbers Up 8% for 2008 Show

It is now less than a month before Tyrexpo Africa 2008 gets underway in Johannesburg, and recent figures tell of an even healthier show than the debut exhibition in 2006. Exhibition floor space at the Sandton Convention Centre has increased by 10 per cent for this year’s event, and exhibitor numbers are up 8 per cent. These exhibitors are reported to be coming from 20 different countries, with 37 Chinese companies and 13 from India signed up. Home market companies will dominate the show, however, with firms from South Africa representing 38 per cent of all exhibitors.

The influence of Chinese and Indian tyre manufacturers on the South African market for OTR tyres is tipped to balloon this year, and these companies will have a highly visible presence at Tyrexpo Africa 2008. Show organiser, ECI International, believes that China and India’s strong participation in the exhibition signals an aggressive drive to achieve greater market share in the lucrative African mining sector.

18th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Nexen to Build US R&D Facility

South Korea’s Nexen Tire plans to open an engineering research and development facility in northeast Ohio, most likely somewhere in the Akron area. The company has hired veteran engineers George Kamvouris and Gary Zolton to start the facility. Kamvouris was most recently with Continental Tire North America, while Zolton comes to Nexen from Denman Tire Corp.

In 2007, Nexen Tire America opened distribution centres in Atlanta, Chicago and Little Ferry, New Jersey, in addition to its existing facility in southern California. The tyremaker also began production at a second plant in Qingdao, China, with planned capacity of 6 million tyres by 2010. The company is considering sites in Ohio, but has not finalised a location. (Tire Review/Akron)

18th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Double Coin Joins TRIB

Double Coin has joined the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB), bringing TRIB’s membership to 480 members in 48 countries. Double Coin has joined under the banner of China Manufacturer’s Alliance (CMA), the US cooperative that names a number of Chinese brands within its ranks.

“TRIB continues to grow internationally as more and more companies in the new tyre and retread industries throughout the world realize that TRIB is the only international retread industry association representing new tire manufacturers, retreaders and tyre repair companies,” said Harvey Brodsky, TRIB’s Managing Director.

15th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

World Rubber Consumption to Increase 4% Annually to 2011

Global consumption of rubber is forecast to rise by 4 per cent annually in the next few years, to 26.5 million tonnes in 2011. This growth stems from robust worldwide motor vehicle production as well as a strong global economy, and consumption will continue to be dominated by the US, Japan and, increasingly, China. This third country has become the world’s leading rubber consumer, overtaking the US as number one in 2001. China will continue to streak ahead in terms of consumption, however the double-digit growth enjoyed between 2001 and 2006 will reduce considerably as its domestic market matures and motor vehicle production decelerates. Demand for tyre rubber also remains strong, yet is slower than in previous years.

15th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodway: Strong and Growing Profits

Malaysia’s Goodway Integrated Industries is not just a supplier of tread rubber and rubber compounds for the global retreading industry – the company also manufactures technical rubber compounds. Furthermore, the Malaysian conglomerate is viewed as one of the most expansive companies in the southeast Asian retreading industry, and for a number of years has produced its own retreaded tyres – products that have given the firm a domestic retreading market share of about 75 per cent. And Goodway’s growth within the region continues to this day; in 2005, Goodway acquired the leading Malaysian market retreader, Big Wheel. Through this purchase Goodway became a major customer to its own products and also entered the OTR tyre retreading industry.

14th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

OTR Tyre Duties “Level the Playing Field” – USW

The United Steelworkers has reacted positively to the US Department of Commerce’s preliminary decision to impose antidumping duties on OTR tyre imports from China. In a statement released by the union group, USW International president Leo Gerard said that the “the decision will help level the playing field for US workers by requiring Chinese tyre imports to be priced fairly.”

At present four individual manufacturers have been investigated by US authorities, resulting in the introduction of duties ranging between 11 and 52 per cent. Other companies penalised with individual rates are subject to a margin reflecting the weighted average of individual rates or 25 per cent – whichever is higher. Those companies ineligible for individual rates must pay a duty of 210 per cent.

13th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Giti Sees the Woods for the Trees

In 2007 Giti Tire acted as co-sponsor for the ‘Great Turtle Race’, an international sea conservation event designed to raise awareness of and funds for the endangered leatherneck turtle. This year the tyremaker’s support for green causes continues, and Giti Tire recently announced it is donating $1 million for conservation projects in Indonesia’s northern Sumatra region and the mountains of southwest China as part of an agreement with Conservation International.

The program will protect the habitat of threatened species such as the Sumatran orang-utan in Indonesia and pandas in southwest China through the replanting of forest areas. Giti reports that, during the first year, the investment will offset the corporation’s overall 2008 carbon emissions.

13th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian Tyre Manufacturers Seek Rubber Duty Reduction

A number of Indian tyre manufacturers have called for import duty on rubber to be reduced in the forthcoming national budget in order to rectify an anomaly that sees this raw material attracting a higher duty than tyres imported from overseas. According to a statement released by the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association, (ATMA) many of the country’s 43 domestic manufacturers are seeking a change from the current 20 per cent duty down to 7.5 per cent, as it is believed this reduced rate will deter the dumping of tyres from China and other countries.

12th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

JK Tyre – Past, Present & Future

When JK Tyre & Industries vice-chairman and managing director Raghupati Singhania introduced truck radial tyres onto the Indian market in 1976, people questioned the sense of the decision. Yet more than three decades on JK Tyre has not only been vindicated through the widespread adoption of the technology by its competitors; today the manufacturer holds a 70 per cent market share in this segment.

Speaking with India’s Financial Express newspaper, Mr. Singhania expressed no doubt that decisions, such as that he made in the 1970s, are vital for a company’s well being. “That’s what leadership is all about. It may not be the popular view but you have to have your own understanding and judgment.” This understanding and judgement has aided JK Tyre during its occasionally bumpy journey from a small player with an annual capacity of 500,000 units 30 years ago to today’s tyre major with a presence in 75 national markets.

8th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

‘Poke Us, and We’ll Poke Back’ – Titan Tire

One of the key agitators behind the US Department of Commerce’s anti-dumping duties has praised the February 6 decision to introduce tougher measures against subsidised OTR tyres from China. Titan Tire, a vocal advocate of US business rights, released a statement on the issue from company chairman and CEO, Maurice M. Taylor.

“Today’s decision will help to restore conditions of fair trade to the US market for OTR tyres by requiring Chinese imports to be priced fairly,” announced Taylor. “For far too long, US producers of OTR tyres such as Titan and our workers have had to compete against Chinese tyres sold at dumped prices, which is illegal. Now, importers and producers will have to compete on the same level field as other producers.”

8th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Magnum Signs 5-Year Recycling Deal

Recycling and waste management solutions provider Magnum D’Or Resources, Inc. (Magnum) has announced the signing and closing of a five-year contract, valued at US$12.5 million a year, with US supplier of outdoor and landscape products National Sales & Supply (NSS) for rubber nuggets, effective immediately. Magnum, under this new agreement, will sell and supply NSS with rubber nuggets in addition to its current contract for rubber buffings. Magnum will use its patented scrap tyre recycling technology to produce this new product.

7th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

First New MG Roadsters Expected in May

Shanghai Automotive (SAIC) is aiming to start producing MG TF roadsters in Nanjing in May and at its plant in Longbridge, Birmingham, within three months of then, a senior executive told the Financial Times. However the cars relaunch could be delayed further by quality and production.

According to the report, MG is also studying at least three new models, including a replacement for the TF, which it hopes to produce from 2010, Chen Hong, SAIC’s president told the newspaper. About 70 per cent of the new model’s manufacture – including their engines – will be made in China. The remaining 30 per cent is expected to be produced in Europe.

7th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors