India
At Autopromotec the chairman and managing director, Sudarsan Varadaraj told T&A: "Elgi’s objective is to provide solutions for the rubber industry. This embraces raw materials including reclaimed rubber, compounds, etc.; rubber products for repair solutions to tyres, tubes, conveyor belts etc.; repair tools and accessories for brazed abrasive tools, high speed cutters, etc.; and rubber processing machinery used in retreading equipment, presses, etc."
Indian-based industrial tyre manufacturer Emrald Resilient Tyres has opened a European operation. Based in Kalmthout near Antwerp in Beglium the business, which was founded six months ago, is headed by V I Srinivas. According to company representatives, the operation consists of a marketing office and warehouse, which contains 4-5 container loads of stock and achieves about the same amount in throughput.
An article first published by Bloomberg on June 29 and subsequently reprinted in a number of newspapers around the world has thrown the spotlight on the effect demand for commodities from China and other emerging markets is having on the price of mining tyres. The Bloomberg journalist, Elisabeth Behrmann, compares the price for “tyres about 3.5 metres (11 feet) across,” such as those fitted to Caterpillar trucks employed in for iron ore and coal haulage, are fetching around US$100,000 on the spot market. Behrmann’s figures come from Australian contract miner Leighton Holdings, who works projects for mining majors such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto; in reporting the current spot price, she notes it lies above the US price for a Porsche 911 Carrera S or a condominium in Miami. UK buyers, it must be said, have to shell out around 33 per cent more for this particular Porsche model than their American counterparts. But you get the idea.
Automechanika Middle East 2011 concluded on 9 June with confirmation that it was the largest international automotive aftermarket trade fair in the wider Middle East region. According to data provided by the exhibitions organisers, 17,421 visitors from over 120 countries attended the show, with a 52 per cent of them described as international visitors. In addition there were 1,102 exhibitors from 52 countries.
Growth at Techking continues unabated. The Qingdao, China-based company, who in early June celebrated its sixth birthday, started 2011 with a passenger car range containing more than 100 size specifications and a swelling truck and bus radial range. But its core business remains the off-road sector and by last year Techking offered consumers some 229 OTR radial specifications. This year it is adding a further twenty or so products to this bulging portfolio. Speaking with Tyres & Accessories, Techking’s marketing and sales manager James Wang reported that a number of fitments for the mining sector are being introduced. “We have developed 14.00R25 & 14.00R24, ETAT (E2) tyres particularly for long travel distance trucks for mining or logging transportation businesses, especially those operating in Australia, Indonesia and Canada. A second important new product is our 13.00R25, ETOT (E4) tyre, designed for heavy mining trucks in China, Mongolia, South East Asia and some African countries. A third newly introduced tyre is our 21.00R25, ETHM (E2), a high-mileage and speed tyre designed for an Australia original equipment customer.
Smithers Rapra has appointed Rikki Lamba as vice president of North American operations. Prior to Smithers, Dr. Lamba worked for Excel Polymers LLC, a global supplier of custom elastomeric solutions with operations in the US, Mexico, the UK and China. Prior to Excel he was vice president of technology at Columbian Chemicals.
Shortages make become an issue within India’s tyre industry following the release of a quality control order by the country’s Department of Commerce. Reporting on the threat, the Business Standard newspaper explains that the order prevents the sale of tyres and tubes in India unless they feature a Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) mark or a certification mark licence is otherwise obtained. The business daily also states industry sources claim the country’s tyre manufacturing industry “has come to a standstill” as it possesses a substantial inventory that cannot be sold without the BIS mark.
Currently Al-Saeedi runs six outlets around Dubai serving OTR, commercial vehicle, passenger car and industrial tyre consumers’ change and repair needs. However, Tyres & Accessories has learnt that the management is now considering further expansion in the capital city of Uganda, Kampala and in Kerala, India. Al Saeedi Group set up Tyrexpress (U) Ltd. in Uganda on 13 April 2010.
The Indian Oil Corporation has entered a joint-venture agreement with Taiwan’s TSRC Corporation and Japan’s Corporation to set up a synthetic rubber factory in India. According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, the three companies will hold respective 50, 30 and 20 per cent stakes in a joint-venture factory that is planned to produce 200,000 tonnes of synthetic rubber a year for the tyre industry.
Indian tyre maker MRF Ltd reports that the lockout at its factory in Kottayam, Kerala state, was lifted on the morning of June 24. Two days earlier the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange it had implemented the lockout on account of “labour unrest in the factory.” While MRF’s own announcements do not elaborate on the issue, The Financial Express newspaper's coverage of the incident cites a union source, who explains the lockout as being the “fallout of a dispute between an employee and a supervisor over alleged unauthorised leave.” Specifically, the anonymous union source alleges the employee was not permitted to go on duty on June 18 and other workers then staged a walkout as a mark of solidarity. The plant is said to have lost around Rs220 million (£3 million) during the four days it was out of operation, the financial daily added.
Austrian retreading materials supplier Kraiburg sees the market for HGV retreads in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and in Dubai in particularly, as offering “unequalled” opportunities. For retreading businesses standing one’s ground in such a limited sized market when competing with a large number of rivals was hard enough when the economy was still booming and much trickier in the current climate against the backdrop of the financial crisis. Against all the odds, Kraiburg reports that Standard Retreads can now look back on a “five-year success story.”
The buy-up of automotive component company’s by India’s Ruia Group is said to be continuing. The Economic Times reports the company is in discussions regarding the purchase of Autoline Industries, a Pune based vehicle body product manufacturer. Autoline Industries achieved revenues of Rs 6.6 billion (£88.8 million) in the last financial year, with some 85 per cent of its income coming from Tata Motors. The Ruia Group, who owns the Dunlop, Falcon and Monotona tyre brands in India, has already purchased six automotive component companies since 2008.
In order to recognise and reward fleet operators who fuel the growth of India’s economy, Apollo Tyres has introduced the Apollo Fleet of the Year Awards. Through these awards, Apollo intends to annually honour commercial vehicle fleets that operate in India and encourage the uptake of innovative practices within the sector. The tyre maker says it is “looking to create a platform for information exchange and sharing of best practices within the transportation industry, enabling more and more fleet owners to move up the value chain.” The first awards ceremony, covering four categories, will be held in September 2011.
The longest-serving Continental AG board member, Hans-Joachim Nikolin (55), leaves the company’s Executive Board at the end of July and its youngest member, Nikolai Setzer (40), will take over a combined tyre business and thus lead the company’s most successful and currently highest turnover-generating division. The company’s business unit structure has decreased at a management level to adapt with future requirements and now benefits the previously independently-led truck tyre division, which in many past years failed to meet expectations and suffered under the griping of Nikolin’s fellow board members Wennemer and Hippe. During that time, numerous threats were allegedly made to sell off the entire commercial vehicle tyre division should it prove unable to rapidly achieve an EBIT margin of or near double figures. Such threats placed Dr. Hans-Joachim in a very helpless position as yield-hungry analysts could have all too easily interpreted them as promises.
Truck and bus tyre production has commenced at Bridgestone’s Indore factory in India’s Madhya Pradesh State. The Bridgestone India facility, which has been producing passenger car tyres since 1998, was expanded to cater for the country’s growing demand for truck and bus radials through an Rs 1,700 million (£22.8 million) investment. Bridgestone India anticipates producing around 200 TBR tyres per day at the plant by the end of this year and twice that number by mid-2012.
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