Imports
(Akron/Tire Review) The US International Trade Commission voted 4-2 yesterday to retain tariffs on steel imports, saying that removing the duties would further hurt the struggling US steel industry. The tariffs specifically cover steel from Japan, Brazil and Russia. Duties on flat-rolled steel range from 20 per cent to 50 per cent, and were imposed about five years ago.
(Akron/Tire Review) Even after reports that negotiators had to take a break to accommodate the upcoming NCAA men’s basketball championships in St. Louis and the United Steelworkers of America’s (USWA) April national convention in Las Vegas, there remain concerns on whether the USWA and Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT) can resolve their apparently deep differences and reach agreement on a new master contract.
Michelin Apollo is eyeing the possibility of producing passenger car tyres, perhaps even tyres for India’s large two-wheeler market, Asian news sources have reported. The news comes as the company prepares to enter the Indian truck and bus tyre market with radial products.
According to Herve Dub, chief executive, there are no definite plans for car tyre production but he concedes that plenty of market assessment is underway. Currently the company imports Michelin brand tyres into the market, although it is aiming to begin producing within India by the end of 2005. Capacity at the company’s $85 milllion joint venture is expected to hit 350,000 tyres per annum by the end of the decade.
The new year, or at least the new financial year, will give the Indian Tyre industry something to cheer about. That is since the government published its Central Budget for 2005/2006 financial year and the and excise and customs relief that came with it, Rubber Asia reports.
The European Union Commission has said it is probing four car makers on suspicion that they restricted access to technical information required for vehicle maintenance in a way that may contravene EU competition law, Tire Review reports.
The United Steelworkers of America union (USWA) has announced that it has begun conducting strike preparation meetings with employees at Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT) plants, according to Tire Review.
Goodyear is expecting Eastern European business to flourish this year, due to an increase of around 670,000 in Poland’s vehicle numbers, reports the Warsaw Business Journal.
Bridgestone Firestone Maxiprest fell deep into the read last year, the South African Business Day has reported. The group reported a headline loss of 44 million rand (almost £4 million) for the year to ended December, compared with 2 million rand (£177,000) profit for the previous year. According to the report, the company’s losses were caused by product shortages, competition from imports and the expense payments made to former directors.
When you have a tyre market that grows by ten per cent each year, as in the case of Russia, an impact on the retreading market is inevitable. Although retreads still don’t have the same status as they do in Western Europe, the eleven companies that are currently doing business in this market are looking forward to a bright future. The growing new tyre market has led to the appearance of a number of different retread companies, including Bandag, Kraiburg and Ellerbrock. Smaller companies like Elgitread from India and ITG from Italy have also shown interest in the Russian market.
The European market doesn’t appear to hold a bright future for retreaded passenger car tyres. Just recently one of the biggest manufacturers of the tyres, Reiff Reifen + Autotechnik GmbH, withdrew from this segment. Nokian Tyres has also taken a similar decision: the Finnish tyre manufacturer has sold its passenger car retreading plant to a Swedish company even though its retreading business was recently brought together under the roof of a new “profit centre”.
If the 8th Moscow Tires & Rubber show is anything to go by, the Russian tyre market looks set to continue its development as a growth market. While the show was marked by growing interest from exhibitors and visitors, the market itself has produced some generally optimistic data and has seen perceptions of the manufacturers’ market approaches improve. All this suggests that the Russian market will continue to develop into a very interesting tyre market, with a strong growth potential.
Media Multiplex presented its vehicle parc management software TireCon, at Reifen 2002 for the first time. Three years later its goal is to establish the software as a standard European solution for haulage contractors, passenger car, truck, bus and other vehicle fleets for tyre dealers, service chains and leasing companies.
The German retreading industry has, for some time now, been concerned about when and how the ECE regulations 108 (passenger tyres) and 109 (truck tyres) would eventually be transferred into mandatory national law. In fact concerns over how the regulations will affect the German retreading market have been lingering since they were put into place in Geneva in June 1998.
A new research report by the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) suggests that government intervention in the US steel market has caused a cost crisis that is hurting automotive and heavy-duty suppliers across the country, reports Tire Review. The MEMA report says that the result has been “unprecedented bankruptcies and job losses.”
The MEMA study, available online at www.mema.org, was written by economists Brian Becker and Kevin Hassett. The pair found that the steel crisis “triggered distortions in the steel market that have contributed to decreased availability, poorer quality and delayed deliveries of steel,” according to MEMA.
The US’s total trade deficit reached a record $617.7 billion, Tire Review reports, citing the Commerce Department. In 2004 the gap widened by 24.4 per cent compare with the previous year, thanks to increased costs of crude oil and more purchases of finished goods. According to the report, purchases of cars and tyres reached all-time highs. The trade deficit even reached as far as farm products, with Americans buying more cheese, wine and food products that the US exported.
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