Whether its raw materials, machinery, research and development or the latest manufacturing trends, this tag provides up-to-the-minute insights into the upstream part of the tyre industry.
Mitas has announced that the Czech tyremaker signed a long-term agreement with Claas at the recent Agritechnica event. “Our cooperation with CLAAS is excellent. We are continuing our collaboration, which dates back to 2004, when Mitas acquired the Continental farm tyre manufacturing division,” said Andrew Mabin, Mitas’ marketing and sales director.
Terex Corporation has agreed to sell its truck business to Volvo Construction Equipment for approximately $160 million. The truck business manufactures and sells off-highway rigid and articulated haul trucks. The deal includes the firm’s Motherwell, Scotland manufacturing facility. The sale, which is subject to government regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, is targeted to close in the first half of 2014.
Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing, Inc. (TNA) has broken ground on a 700,000 square foot (65,000m²) addition to its 2 million square foot (186,000 m²) tyre manufacturing facility in White, Georgia. The plant’s warehousing capacity will also be expanded by 323,000 square feet (30,000m²); Toyo says it needs a larger warehouse area to accommodate increasing demand for Toyo and Nitto brand passenger car and light truck tyres. Parent company Toyo Tire & Rubber is investing US$371 million in the TNA expansion over the next four years.
According to a report from market research and consulting company TechSci Research, three tyre majors account for more than 70 per cent of tyre sales in Thailand. Bridgestone, Michelin and Goodyear dominate a market that is expected to grow significantly in the next few years and generate revenues up to around US$17 billion by the end of 2018. However the report, titled ‘Thailand Tyre Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2018’, opines that companies such as Yokohama, Sumitomo and Continental tyres are providing these three with “tough competition”.
GfK has been carrying out research on car tyres in India since January 2013 and says that, although demand for passenger cars in India has fallen somewhat short of expectations this year, the replacement passenger car tyre market is thriving with robust sales reported for car and SUV tyres in the last three quarters. Car owners in the top 43 cities in India bought more than 5.5 million tyres in first nine months of the year; with the third quarter sales volume having surged by a substantial 11 per cent over the previous quarter.
The sale of Apollo Tyres South Africa (ATSA) to Sumitomo Rubber Industries has been closed, report Sumitomo and Apollo Tyres. In exchange for US$60 million, the Japanese firm now holds the rights to the Dunlop tyre brand in a further 30 African and two Indian Ocean region countries. Also included in the deal is the 9,600 tyre per day Ladysmith PCR factory that Apollo acquired as part of its Dunlop South Africa purchase in 2006, the ATSA distribution and sales network, and the ATSA distribution, sales and head office teams. Apollo retains the 2006-acquired Durban factory, which manufactures TBR and off-road tyres.
Cooper Tire has announced its plan to open a 6,800m2 distribution centre in conjunction with logistics expert, Milsped, in Belgrade, Serbia. The facility will be located alongside Milsped’s corporate headquarters in the Krnjesevci area of Belgrade. Due to open in December, the centre will have a storage capacity of up to 400,000 tyres.
Analysts at TechSci Research have published a new report highlighting the growth potential of the South Korean tyre market. According to the report entitled “South Korea Tyre Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2018”, the tyre market in South Korea is expected to grow at the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5 per cent between 2013 and 2018 in terms of sales revenue.
Sales of locally-produced Continental run-flat tyres will reportedly begin in China before the end of this year. Quoting Jay Dhillon, general manager of Continental Tires China, the China Daily wrote on 28 November that annual output of these products will reach 340,000 units next year and 510,000 units in 2015. Hefei is the fourth Continental plant to begin run-flat production, after Aachen (Germany), Port Elizabeth (South Africa) and Mount Vernon (USA).
According to news reported by the Bangkok Post today, Yokohama Rubber intends to double capacity at its Rayong factory in Thailand; the stated reason for this increase is to equip the country as a base from where the ASEAN region can be supplied.
To mark the completion of Swiss company Gebrüder Schaad into the Starco organisation, the new entity Starco GS held a distributor day earlier this month at the company’s facility in Sübingen, Switzerland.
Autoparts has added 50 new references to its extensive range of Padtech brake pads, bringing the number in the range to close to 1500 references for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.
The SMMT has released figures showing that in October domestic demand supported the biggest monthly increase in 2013 UK car manufacturing
Car output in October rose 17.4 per cent to 160,854 units, the largest monthly increase so far this year. 1,286,287 cars have been produced in the year-to-date; a rise of 5.4 per cent.
Cabot Corporation has completed its acquisition of the equity stake owned by Grupo Kuo S.A.B. de C.V. in its Mexican carbon black manufacturing joint-venture, Nhumo, S.A.de C.V. The company says Nhumo is Mexico’s leading carbon black producer and the acquisition of Kuo’s interest strengthens Cabot’s global carbon black business and will help meet growing demand throughout North America. The Nhumo business will now be integrated into Cabot’s Reinforcement Materials segment. Under the terms of the agreement, Cabot will pay Kuo US$105 million, of which $80 million was paid upon closing. In addition, at closing, a special dividend payment will be paid to Nhumo shareholders, of which Cabot will receive $14 million.
Cabot Corporation, the second largest carbon black manufacturer in the United States, has agreed to pay a US$975,000 civil penalty and spend an estimated $84 million on state of the art technology to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOX), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM) from its carbon black plants in Franklin and Ville Platte, Louisiana, and Pampa, Texas. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice, these measures will resolve alleged violations of the New Source Review (NSR) provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at these three facilities.
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.