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.
Linglong Tire aims to become a top-five tyre maker by 2030. It voices this goal in a recently-published document outlining the company’s mid- and long-term strategy. Specifically, it intends to increase tyre production to 160 million pieces a year within the next decade, and by doing so grow annual sales revenues to more than RMB 80 billion (£9.1 billion).
China’s vehicle market was down 43 per cent in March, at 1.43 million units. David Leggett, automotive editor at GlobalData, said that April “will be key to seeing how the recovery to demand is shaping up and also how robust it is.”
Chinese tyre manufacturer Linglong has held a project launch ceremony for its fifth Chinese manufacturing base in Changchun, Jilin Province. Dignitaries from Changchun, Jilin, China FAW Group Corporation, China Rubber Industry Association, and Linglong partners attended the event. The event marks the latest step in the manufacturer’s “5+3” global production strategy, which is designed to “achieve sustained, stable and healthy development,” Linglong states. It currently has four Chinese manufacturing bases in Zhaoyuan, Dezhou, Liuzhou, Jingmen, a well as one in Thailand and a further international plant under construction in Serbia. Furthermore, Linglong said it would upgrade its strategy to “6+6”; six plants in China and six internationally.
Sailun Group is investing just over RMB 2 billion (£226 million) to increase truck tyre capacity at its Liaoning, Shenyang Province plant by 3 million pieces a year. The company’s wholly-owned Sailun (Shenyang) Tire Co. Ltd. subsidiary broke ground on the project on 1 March.
On 1 April 2020 Camfin SpA, a key shareholder in Pirelli which shares the Italian tyre manufacturer’s close connections with Marco Tronchetti Provera, announced that Camfin and Longmarch Sàrl had signed “a preliminary and non-binding Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] to evaluate a possible strategic partnership, aimed at developing activities in private equity, including the healthcare sector. However, while Camfin is an investment company and Longmarch is a separate Luxembourg-based vehicle, the two firms are related to Pirelli and the Chinese Hixih Rubber Group respectively. And therefore, the latest news could also indicate that Pirelli and Hixih are moving closer together.
In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and in order to protect the health of exhibitors, visitors and partners the 11th China (Guangrao) International Rubber Tire & Auto Accessory Exhibition (referred to as China GRTAE 2020), which was originally scheduled to be held at Guangrao International Expo Center, Shandong from 15-17 May has been rescheduled for 8-10 September 2020.
The last few months have been a challenging time for the tyre industry, but some of the first companies affected by the COVID-19 crisis are now reporting a return to normality. Zhongce Rubber Group (ZC Rubber) says its production at its plant in Hangzhou, China is now “in full swing” and its more than 9,200 employees back at work.
As the Chinese Government announces it will maintain subsidies for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, an indication that it will support the industry in recovery, David Leggett, automotive analyst at GlobalData, says “all eyes will be on China, being the first country hit by the crisis and the first to attempt to navigate a way out.”
Triangle Tyre is reporting that its four manufacturing plants in China are now back to operating at 90 per cent after the Chinese New Year and coronavirus shutdown.
Earlier this month, Zhongce Rubber Group Co., Ltd. (ZC Rubber) and Nanjing Lvjinren Rubber & Plastic High-tech Co., Ltd. (Nanjing Lvjinren Rubber) agreed to expand their capacity to produce recycled rubber from end of life tyres. The two companies are working on a project to boost capacity for recycled rubber at their pilot plant by 20,000 tonnes a year. ZC Rubber says this will be “fully operational” by September 2020 and will be the “leading” Industry 4.0 recycled rubber intelligent plant and pilot recycling project within China’s tyre industry.
The coronavirus-related restrictions we’re now experiencing in the UK and Europe were first seen in China. Many changes have taken place there since the COVID-19 outbreak began. Ge Guorong, vice president of Zhongce Rubber Group, sent a live video message to the retailers of its products in China, urging them to face the current difficulties together.
Goodyear is donating 2 million yuan (approximately $285,000) to support the fight against the COVID-19 in China where the company has a factory in Dalian. Working with the Dalian Chapter of the China Youth Development Fund (CYDF), the donation will be used to support frontline doctors and nurses stationed in Hubei province and Dalian city hospitals.
The Sailun Group is investing around RMB 1 billion (£110.6 million) to boost passenger car tyre capacity at its factory in Dongying, Shandong Province to 27 million tyres a year. This growth will take place as part of Sailun’s ‘HP Tire Expansion Project’ and is considered a “necessary guarantee for the group to impact the domestic mid/high-end OE market.”
Linglong Tire has been working hard to make good production shortfalls resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. The tyre maker reports that it shipped a record 280,000 tyres on 29 February, with nearly 300 employees working over the weekend at several of Linglong’s sites in China to ensure as many deliveries as possible.
Production at two of Pirelli’s three factories in China remains suspended in response to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). The tyre maker reports that its entire expatriate workforce has left the country along with their families, and only the car and motorcycle tyre in Yanzhou remains in operation, albeit at “a reduced pace”.
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