Imports
UK car producers have come out as strong supporters of Britain’s membership of the EU, and a new group has commissioned a major research study into the benefits of belonging to the trading block to underline the ramifications of a potential exit.
As Iranian business envoys court representatives of the various global markets at the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, details of the country’s recent tyre market development have also emerged. Of course, the Iranian enterprise bigwigs have been intent on smoozing with the self-styled “masters of the universe” in order to make business in-roads now that certain automotive and petrochemical economic sanctions have been lifted by the west. During a recent interview with the BBC one such envoy described Iran as a very developed and highly educated market poised for further development, but it also has to be said that the geo-political environment makes things complex.
No sooner had the US issued a modification to its initial determination in the Sino Legend (Zhangjiagang) Chemical Co., Ltd. and SI Group Inc. intellectual property case (on 16 January) then Sino Legend replied with a statement of its intent to continue with US imports of tyres featuring this product. According to Sino Legend, the commission ruled that the majority of SI Group’s alleged trade secrets are unprotectable and rejected SI’s request to exclude Sino Legend SL-1805 and SL-7015 resins from US import. The ITC is also said to have struck down the originally recommended general exclusion order.
The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA) suggest the 2013 tyre replacement market stabilised in 2013 after a shaky start to the year. According to figures published 16 January, the car segment contracted 1 per cent to 192.699 million units in 2013. Total truck tyre sales were put at 8.849 million.
Commenting on the U.S. International Trade Commission’s extension of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on certain off-the-road tyres produced in China, the United Steelworkers union says the decision to continue with the 2008-introduced tariffs is a “good outcome to provide job security for the hundreds of tyre workers who make these same tyre products at Titan Bridgestone-Firestone and Goodyear factories in Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Kansas and New York.”
With memories of Nokian’sill-fated alternative winter tyre label fresh in mind, I was interested to learn that Finnish tyre and vehicle test centre Testworld is making its own ice braking test result publically and freely available.
Let’s cast our minds back almost exactly a year. The new tyre labelling laws had just been introduced following six months of various manufacturers making certain data available.12 months on virtually all of that has died down and it is far from clear exactly how the market has received this concept, let alone consumers (see “Labelling compliance worse…”, “NTDA/Lanxess labelling report” and “Goodyear Dunlop: Labelling one year on” for more on this.
Avon Tyres witnessed a strong end to the 2013 Time Attack series at Brands Hatch, as two titles and an all-time Time Attack lap record were claimed on its tyres. Avon became an official tyre supplier to the increasingly popular Time Attack series at the start of 2013, supplying its acclaimed ZZR road-legal circuit tyres and full competition slicks to entrants.
Aeolus has a new distributor for its passenger car tyre range in the German, Austrian and Swiss markets. German wholesaler and tyre service provider Reifen Straub GmbH now handles imports in these three territories and in mid-September began delivery of Aeolus AW02 and AW03 winter tyres for the coming ‘changeover’ period, which traditionally takes place in October.
At present, Cooper Tire & Rubber operates eight plants in the Americas, Asia and Europe, and production from all three regions is sold on the European market. However the company believes its value proposition can be strengthened by increasing the proportion of European-made tyres sold here.
Myanmar’s automotive market is likely to grow to 95,300 units by 2010, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8 per cent (2013-2019). That’s the view of researchers at Frost & Sullivan who suggest that this will be driven by a growing economy, infrastructure development and increasing income as well as better integration with ASEAN nations. Their view is that real growth however is likely to start only after 2014.
Apollo Tyres Ltd has reported first quarter 2013-2014 financials including a 19 per cent rise in net profits to 1.66 billion rupees (22.8 million euros; US$29.7 million). The announcement followed the approval of a large dividend pay-out of 50 per cent per share (0.50 per equity share), for the year ended 31 March 2013.
Brazil’s Chamber of Commerce (Camex) has reviewed and extended its anti-dumping duties on passenger car tyres manufactured in China. In late July it published a list of duties to be charged on tyres covered by Mercosul Common Nomenclature (NCM) 4011.10.00, specifically new 65 and 70 series, 13 and 14-inch rim diameter passenger car radials.
Ghana’s National Road Safety Commission wishes to clarify comments it recently made, comments that were widely interpreted as heralding a ban on part-worn tyres within the country.
Ongoing concerns over the availability of natural rubber have prompted India’s tyre makers to cast an envious eye on supplies from outside the country. Now the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA), the organisation representing ten of India’s tyre manufacturers, has handed the country’s Commerce Minister a statement saying the tyre industry will more strongly rely on rubber imports.
Nearly year after the UAE banned the sale of used tyres, local news sources report that an import ban has been added to measures designed to curb the part worn trade. The new law is part of a tyre management plan implemented by the Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (Esma), which will implement the ban on the import of used tyres in September. In the meantime, the existing federal law is “being openly flouted by traders and workshops in Sharjah and Dubai”, according to Gulf News.
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