India
(India/Rubber Asia) Cheap imports from China and to a lesser extent from Thailand and South Korea, coupled with rising raw material costs are posing a serious challenge to the Indian tyre industry, Apollo Tyres chief operating officer Mr Neeraj Kanwar has said.
Feedback from the fourth Automechanika Asia trade fair, held in Kuala Lumpur in early April, has been voted a success by visitors and exhibitors.
There were 126 exhibitors from 17 countries (Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, PR China, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and USA).
(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.
By Alex Law
MacLeans magazine
“Nunc est bibendum.”
Horace originally meant that to be a call to merriment, or, in a more literal translation, “Now is the time to drink.”
When Michelin first used the phrase decades ago on an advertising poster, it was the tagline to a sketch of a man made out of tyres (now known as Bibendum) who was looking down a stretch of pavement filled with the kind of debris normally found on the world’s roads at the time. The message then meant, “I can handle all that.”
(Rubber Asia/India) The Indian rubber industry used up a total of over a million tonnes of various types of rubber during 2003/04, according to data compiled by the Automotive tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA).
Of this, the tyre industry alone (including cycle tyres & tubes and camelback) consumed 478,734 tonnes of natural rubber — 66.5 per cent of all natural rubber (NR) consumed by the Indian industry as a whole. The tyre segment was also by far the largest consumer of synthetic rubber (140,960 tonnes out of a total of 210,190 tonnes) and reclaimed rubber (38,532 tonnes out of 70,460).
More importantly, the Indian auto tyre segment still has 73.34 per cent of its rubber consumption in the form of natural rubber with synthetic rubber (SR) accounting for 23.73 per cent and reclaimed rubber 2.93 per cent. This NR:SR ratio is almost the reverse of the pattern elsewhere in the tyre-making world.
Michelin-Apollo Tyres (MATL) has entered a joint venture with Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, India’s two biggest commercial vehicle makers, in a bid to sell radial tyres.
The $85 million venture, to manufacture truck and bus radial tyres will commence by June 2006, reports BS Online, adding that the Pune plant will reach a capacity of 350,000 units by 2009-10.
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.
(India/Rubber Asia) The profits of MRF, one of India’s largest tyre makers, are continuing to come under pressure. With raw material costs showing no signs of easing, the company is resisting attempts to pass cost pressures onto consumers. Chairman and MD, K M Mammen summed up the situation when he admitted that the company was searching for areas where is could rein costs in to “protect our profits.”
(India/Rubber Asia) When the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed in December 1998, informed opinion may have considered it experimental. In Sri Lanka, the questions raised were: “Will Indian goods flood the Sri Lanka market?” and “Does Sri Lanka have the resources to penetrate the vast Indian market?”
The FTA became operational in March 2000, and trade across the Palk Strait has expanded significantly since then. When the Sri Lankan and Indian Prime Ministers met in June 2002, they decided to widen the scope of cooperation under the FTA which dealt with trade and tariffs, to include services, technology and investment, thus moving the two economies towards greater integration and propelling them forward to a Comprehensive Econonomic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
(India/Rubber Asia) Truck and bus tyre production continues to increase and now accounts for 65 per cent of the total turnover of the industry in terms of value. Recently released January 2005 figures show that, in terms of volume, total production is just below the million unit mark – standing at 947,000 compared with 934,000 a year ago. Passenger car tyres production in India reached 1.06 million units, while LCV tyre production for January stood at 353,000 units. The Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association figures show that some 221,000 units were exported.
Tyres & Accessories is pleased to announce that it has extended its editorial cooperation agreement to include magazines from South Africa (Southern Africa Treads), Asia (Rubber Asia) and Australia (Australian Tyre Dealer). The enhanced group, together with existing partners, Tire Review, NeueReifenZeitung and Tyres & Accessories now have a unique partnership designed to further enhance each magazine’s ability to provide its readers with high quality global information.
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.
India’s Apollo Tyres Ltd tyres has reduced its prices by a range of 2-4.5 per cent. The announcement follows Indian finance minister, P Chidambaram’s decision to reduce excise duty on tyres from 24 to 16 per cent. After MRF and Ceat cut their prices there was speculation that other large manufacturers would also pass the savings onto consumers. “The price cut is in the range of 2-4.5 per cent across products and various categories,” a company official said, declining to go into the specifics of the price reduction.After the Budget announcements, the excise duty on truck and bus tyres for the replacement market was reduced to 16 per cent. Truck and bus tyre accounted for over 70 per cent of the turnover of the tyre industry in value terms.
In India tyre prices are “tumbling” in response to the government’s decision to cut excise tax by eight per cent, local news sources have reported. According to India’s Economic Times, MRF and Ceat have announced 4 – 6 per cent price cuts, while others such as Apollo, Goodyear and Birla Tyres are likely to follow the same lead. This means that typical non-radial bus and truck tyres are 1000 rupees cheaper.
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.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
