Indonesia
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.
The organiser of next March’s INAPA 2012 automotive parts and equipment show in Indonesia reports that a dedicated tyre industry exhibition, Tyre & Rubber Indonesia”, will be held alongside the annual event. In announcing this addition to INAPA and its associated sub-events, organiser PT. Global Expo Management says that a visitor survey of the 37,100 trade attendees at this year’s exhibition revealed a high level of interest in tyre products. Around 300 exhibitors are expected at this year’s Tyre & Rubber Indonesia, which will be hosted in its own 6,000 square metre hall within the INAPA show.
The Falken Tyres brand is owned by Sumitomo Rubber Industries, the sixth largest manufacturer in the global tyre ranking with manufacturing facilities across Asia including plants in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and China. It was created in 1983 and was first sold in the US and Europe some years later. While the brand has an active motorsport presence in events such as the prestigious 24 Hours at the Nürburgring, it argues that its knowledge acquired in that arena is transferred immediately to its road tyre R&D team in Japan. Tyres & Accessories interviewed Satoru Ushida, marketing director at Falken Tyre Europe.
Less than a month after breaking ground on its Liang Jiang Xin Qu factory in China’s Chongqing region, Hankook Tire has held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new plant in Indonesia. This facility, in Lippo Cikarang, Bekasi, West Java, will become the Korean tyre maker’s seventh global plant. Four production facilities on a 60 hectare site will cater to North American and Middle East export markets and serve as a regional business hub for the emerging Asian market.
Thai news reports are warning that “over 30,000 workers in the rubber-based industry have been affected” following the earthquake/tsunami disaster that hit Japan recently. Quoting figures issued by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), the reports cited FTI Rubber Based Industry Club President Dr Chayo Trangadisaikul as saying: “15 domestic car tyre manufacturers have reduced production capacity by 30 – 40 per cent and cut overtime operations; thereby, over 30,000 workers in the industry are affected.”
Indonesia’s Gajah Tunggal has reported a net profit of Rp 332 billion (£23.4 million) in the first quarter of 2011, a 35 per cent year-on-year and 182 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase. This result is “well above” Deutsche Bank’s consensus (the bank’s equity research analysts comments that it is equal to 40 per cent of consensus and 43 per cent of its full year 2011 forecast). Much of this growth was, however, from foreign exchange gains and associates. Core net profit, excluding foreign exchange and associates, was Rp 181 billion (£12.8 million) – relatively unchanged from the first quarter of 2010 and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 60 per cent.
Apollo Tyres’ managing director Neeraj Kanwar is expecting European aftermarket sales of its Apollo-branded tyres to grow to between 60,000 and 65,000 units a month by the winter season. According to an interview published in the India’s Hindu Business Line, the company is currently selling around 50,000 of these tyres a month in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and Italy, meaning the proposed uptick in sales will be in the order of 20 – 30 per cent. According to the reports these figures are “over and above the sales of Vredestein branded tyres manufactured in Europe.”
With South Korean replacement car tyre sales of over 8.6 million units worth US$800.9 billion last year, the replacement tyre business joins the rest of the automotive industry in being a major part of the entire local economy. According to GfK’s automotive retail audit sales in second half of the year climbed 15 per cent over first half and nearly 30 per cent compared to the same period in 2009.
In an extraordinary general meeting on 21 March, tyre maker Multistrada Arah Sarana changed its articles of association allowing it to enter into the rubber plantation business. As a result the firm expects to cut raw material costs by 10 – 15 per cent.
Multistrada plans to enter the rubber plantation business by acquiring 20,000 – 30,000 hectares of rubber plantation. In addition, the company will reportedly build a rubber processing plant with a 5,000 tonnes per annum capacity. The aforementioned rubber plantation would be equivalent to around 70 per cent of Multistrada's annual natural rubber requirements. The acquisition of necessary land is scheduled for completion during the first half of this year.
The market can change so quickly: Passenger car alloy wheel manufacturers, both large and small, recently and sometimes reluctantly reduced their production capacity while others became casualties of the consolidation that takes place within the sector whenever overcapacity is present in the market. Now the picture is very different. Alloy wheel firms are desperate to find factories whose utilisation capacities are less than a hundred per cent.
New research suggests that Thailand is home to some 3,200 tyre shops. And what’s more roughly 50 per cent of fast fits are based in the Thai capital of Bangkok. According to research, which was conducted by well known market data analysts GfK, the automotive industry is on a roll, particularly in Thailand, which recorded a 47-month high of domestic automobile sales last November.
In response GfK recently launched its automotive business in Thailand, tracking sales of replacement passenger car tyres and batteries. According to GfK’s latest findings, while tyre specialists are “uniformly spread out across the country,” fast fit outlets make up a third of all shops and are more commonly found in Bangkok area where demand tends to be higher compared to the other regions.
Indonesia’s PT Gajah Tunggal Tbk is expected to report its fiscal year 2010 results on March 26, 2011. Pre-empting the full release of the company’s financials, DB Equity Research Automotive reports the tyre maker achieved annual sales of Rp 9.9 trillion (£693.6 million), a 24 per cent year-on-year increase. This figure is, the Deutsche Bank analysts comment, three per cent above consensus and five per cent above Deutsche Bank estimates. Gross profit is reported to have increased six per cent year-on-year above 2009’s Rp 1.821 trillion (£127.6 million), implying a full-year gross margin of 17.9 per cent. This margin is, DB Equity Research Automotive notes, “much better than expected” given the steep (around 16 per cent) average increase in natural rubber prices in the fourth quarter of 2010 versus the average in the first nine months of the year.
Motorsport is viewed by Yokohama Rubber as a “key aspect its efforts to develop its global tyre business,” and with this in mind the Japanese tyre maker says it will “strive to increase the degree of recognition of the Yokohama tyre brand through a wide range of motor sports activities in Japan and around the world.” On March 24 the company announced its global motorsport plans for 2011.
Thailand’s Natural Rubber Policy Committee has agreed to set minimum and maximum prices for natural rubber as part of a range of measures intended to stabilise the industry and prevent major fluctuations in price. The Bangkok Post reported on July 22 that a task force chaired by the country’s Agriculture and Cooperative Ministry has been appointed to lay out these price guidelines within one month.
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