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Indian Tiremaker Joins TRIB

(Akron/Tire Review India’s Apollo Tyres has joined the recently renamed Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB), bringing the group’s membership to 480 members in 48 countries.

“TRIB continues to grow internationally as more and more companies in the new tire 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.

18th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Indian and Chinese Tyremakers to Target Mining Market at Tyrexpo

The influence of Chinese and Indian tyre manufacturers on the southern African market for OTR, mining and quarrying tyres is set to grow substantially, according to the organisers of the Tyrexpo Africa’08 exhibition. Major suppliers including Apollo International and Balkrishna from India and Shanghai Yadong, Shifeng Double Star and Techking Tires from China have already confirmed their presence as exhibitors at the next show in March 2008. ECI International, the company that organises the exhibition, believes this signals an aggressive drive to achieve greater market shares in the lucrative mining sector.

Rowena Suthers, ECI’s sales director, says: “Indian and Chinese tyre makers have become successful exporters around the globe and it’s clear from the response we are seeing that sub-Saharan markets are now firmly in their sights. That should be great news for tyre buyers and plant managers, offering wider choice at very competitive terms.”

12th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Ceat to Meet Aftermarket Demand through Outsourcing

When handed lemons, make lemonade…or when OE orders dwindle, produce tyres for the more profitable aftermarket. In spite of reports coming from India that vehicle makers are reducing output, Ceat Tyres – a company that traditionally has obtained about 20 per cent of its revenues from OE supply – is planning to increase its tyre production rather than cut it back.

“The least profitable sector for us has shrunk, giving us the opportunity to sell more to the more profitable ones,” said Arnab Banerjee, the company’s vice-president, sales & marketing. Ceat plans to boost its production in the short term through outsourcing, a necessary move while it awaits the construction of its own new facilities. “Looking at the robust replacement demand, right now we are unable to manufacture enough,” Banerjee added. “My number one priority is to secure supplies through outsourcing, since the two greenfield plants we are planning to set up would come on stream only over the next two-three years,”

11th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Vietnamese, Indian Tyremakers Sign Supply Agreement

Vietnam’s Southern Rubber Industry Joint Stock Company, who trade under the name Casumina, has signed a cooperation contract with India’s JK Tyre and Industries Ltd. to export truck tyres and tubes. Under the terms of the contract signed on June 7, Casumina will sell 180,000 truck tyres and tubes to JK Tyre and Industries for US$17million. These products will initially be sold under the JK Tyre brand name and later, following consumer feedback on quality, they will be sold as Casumina branded products. As part of the agreement JK Tyre will provide its latest technology to Casumina.

Casumina manufactures tyres and tubes for trucks, passenger cars and two-wheel vehicles, and began production of radials in 2005. At present the company claims to be experiencing annual growth of 38 per cent, with turnover reaching $14 million last year. In 2006 the company signed a contract with Continental to produce light truck and motorcycle tyres and tubes for the Asian market. These products were produced in Malaysia under the Sime Tyres label.

11th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Slowing Vehicle Sales & Tyre Imports Squeezing Indian Tyremakers

The share market value of several Indian tyre manufacturers has fallen in the wake of news that domestic vehicle makers such as Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland are reducing their OE tyre orders. Vehicle sales in India have declined in the last year, with a 15-20 per cent fall in growth recorded. Shares in MRF Ltd fell 3.22 per cent on June 6, while stock in Ceat Tyres and JK Tyres fell by 5.07 and 3.68 per cent respectively. Apollo Tyres closed 0.81 per cent lower. “There will definitely be a little downturn in tyre stocks as auto stocks are all down,” said Ms Vaishali Jajoo, an automotive analyst with brokerage firm Angel Broking.

8th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyremakers Meet to Address Cartel Allegations

In an attempt to address allegations of cartel behaviour amongst Indian tyremakers the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) have met to discuss the issue, and negotiations have begun on the possibility of implementing a compliance programme to eliminate such practices, whether they be planned or unintended.

While a probe conducted by India’s Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission has been stalled since the early 1990s due to a high court stay obtained by a leading tyre manufacturer, India’s tyremakers deny the claims of cartelisation, and reportedly seem eager to participate in discussions that will wipe away any blemishes remaining from past anti-competitiveness allegations or investigations.

8th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Tata Steel Looking at Increasing Tyre Wire Production

India’s largest steel producer, Tata Steel, is looking at making new acquisitions throughout Asia in order to expand capacity and establish a stronger foothold as a tyre industry supplier. According to the Indian business newspaper Mint, Tata Steel’s managing director B. Muthuraman has disclosed the company is looking to purchase both finished steel product companies and iron ore or coal mines in order to boost its annual 30 million tonne steel manufacturing capacity by more than 50 per cent within a decade.

“We are looking for acquisitions in the steel wires business in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Apart from expansion in capacity, we also want to move into high grade, higher-value add wires used in tyre cords and oil tempered wires through acquisitions,” said Muthuraman. While the company is currently the world’s sixth largest steel wire manufacturer, producing half a million tonnes per annum, at present their principal tyre industry product is bead wire.

7th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

India & China Fuelling Increased Carbon Black Demand

According to the US market research organisation the Freedonia Group, worldwide demand for carbon black is forecast to rise by 4.2 per cent per annum, reaching an annual consumption of 11 million tonnes in 2011. Consumption is predicted to particularly grow in the Asia-Pacific region, thanks to the continuing expansion of China and India’s automotive and tyre industries. These two countries also saw the largest increases in new carbon black capacity between 2001 and 2006. In contrast, Freedonia states that it expects demand in developed regions to “post below-average gains through 2011, with the large US and Japanese markets holding particularly weak prospects.”

Two-thirds of this anticipated demand will come from the tyre industry, which is expected to account for 7.1 million tonnes by 2011. And with little construction of new carbon black production facilities, utilisation rates in developed markets is predicted to remain at 95 per cent or higher.

4th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Up Close and Personal With Dunlop

(SA Treads – South Africa) April of this year marked the end of an era. Industry icon, Pierre Dreyer, outgoing managing director of Dunlop Tyres SA and Mike Hankinson, CEO, officially announced their joint retirement from Dunlop and the tyre industry as a whole, in a move that will see them pursuing new business ventures and personal aspirations in the months and years to come. Simultaneously, Brazilian-born Dr Luis Ceneviz assumed the role of managing director of Dunlop Tyres SA on 1 April 2007. Amidst all the last-minute frenzied activity, we managed to secure an exclusive interview with all three, to not only recap any historic milestones the Company may have achieved, but gain some insight into what we can expect from this new tyre manufacturer going forward.

1st June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Investing a Further £50 Million in Healthcare

The Apollo Tyres group has outlined plans to invest a further Rs 4,000 million (£49.78 million) in significantly expanding its recently established healthcare venture, Artemis Health Sciences. These funds would be used to establish five new hospitals in India – four secondary healthcare facilities each containing 150 beds, and a speciality hospital with 220 beds – and at present the company is looking at a number of prospective cities, including locations in Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Vadodara, Coimbatore and Bhubaneswar. These hospitals would be set up in the next three years.

Artemis has already invested Rs 2,000 million (£24.89 million) building a 260-bed hospital in the city of Gurgaon. This facility is expected to be operational by mid-June. Additional future investment will see the number of beds at the Guragon facility, which specialises in orthopaedic, cardiovascular and oncology treatment nearly double to 500 beds.

29th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

PCL – Sumo to Form Indian JV

Pneumatics Components Ltd (PCL) is preparing to enter into a joint venture in India. The UK-based manufacturer and supplier of tyre shop, automotive and other transportation products is teaming up with India’s Sumo Hi-Tech Marketing to form PCL-Sumo Air Technology Pvt Ltd, a company that is claimed to be India’s top tyre inflation and pneumatic products provider.

Headquartered in the city of Mumbai, PCL-Sumo will manufacture, sell and distribute a full range of tyre inflation and pneumatic products designed to meet the needs of the Indian market, including both mechanical and electronic tyre inflation products such an adapted Indian market version of PCL’s Accura forecourt inflator. Indian customers will also gain access to the full PCL range, including the Accura 1 electronic handheld inflator: the AirForce, PCL’s brand new generation of mechanical air line gauges: the Hi-Flo MK 3 Air Line Gauge, and the Accura 11, 12 and 13, suitable for tyre shop applications.

24th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Apollo Invests to Ace the Tennis World

During a press conference on May 23 Apollo Tyres Ltd unveiled its long-term plans for increasing the profile of tennis as a sport and developing young Indian champions for the global arena. The Haryana based tyre major made a commitment to invest Rs 100 crore (US$24.64 million/£12.45 million) towards the development of Indian tennis over a ten-year period, one of the largest sports initiatives made by any Indian company. One of the stated aims of the project is to see an Indian player taking out the Grand Slam championship by 2018.

“Over the decades, tennis has always thrown up some great Indian talent, who on individual merit and hard work, have made India proud. However to succeed today, we need a lot more than talent. I believe, with world-class training, facilities and mentoring of young players, we could see an Indian winning a Grand Slam title in the near future. We will work towards making the sport more popular with today’s youngsters and realising this goal by the year 2018,” said Neeraj R S Kanwar, Apollo Tyres’ joint managing director & COO.

24th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

On a Roll

India’s third largest tyre manufacturer, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd (JK Tyre), has made no secret of its plans to increase domestic market share in key segments and to seek out new export markets, but bringing these goals to fruition requires the expansion of the company’s existing production capacities. Therefore JK Tyre has its eye on making an investment of somewhere between £60 million and £75 million in this area over the next three years.

President of JK Tyre, Mr. Arun K. Bajoria, recently spoke to the respected Indian daily publication Hindu Business Line regarding the steps his company was making towards realising its aims. “The expansion will be across the four existing facilities and the investments would be spread over the next three years,” he stated. “But in the next 12 months we would be first investing around Rs 120 crore (£15 million) for increasing the capacity by around 50 per cent in the off the road tyres segment used by the mining, cement, coal and earth-moving sectors.”

22nd May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Techking Tires Becomes 100th Exhibitor at Tyrexpo Asia’07

China’s Techking Tires has become the one hundredth exhibitor to sign up for September’s TyrexpoAsia exhibition in Singapore, breaking all records for the show as it approaches its 10th anniversary. The OTR specialist is one of more than 20 Chinese companies who have helped swell exhibitor numbers, which have also been supported by increased interest from India and host nation, Singapore.

Newera Equipment and its subsidiary, Kayel Rubber Products, is one Singaporean business that will be making a major statement of intent. Working with its supplier partners from around the world, Newera will be exhibiting on no-less than five stands.

The company is Asia’s largest supplier of tyre-related equipment and will be displaying the latest computerised buffing machine from Matteuzzi. It will also be showcasing the Double Envelope System from Italian supplier MAE and another highlight will be the advanced Shearography Non Destructive Testing technology from German company, Steinbichler.

21st May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Name Change for India’s JK

India’s third largest tyre manufacturer, J.K. Industries, have announced that their company name is to change to JK Tyre and Industries, with effect from May 23,2007.

18th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors