Blame those rising raw material costs –Continental Tire The Americas has announced price increases of up to six per cent on all Continental, General Tire and proprietary brand passenger car, light truck and commercial vehicle tyres in the United States. Exact increases will vary by product size, and the new pricing takes effect June 1st, 2010.
The Southern Rubber Industry Joint Stock Company, better known by its trading name Casumina, reports attaining sales of 2,496,309 million dong (£84.0 million) during 2009, up 116.17 per cent on the previous year’s sales and 146.37 per cent more than expected sales for the year. The Vietnamese tyre maker’s after tax profit totaled 290,642 million dong (£9.8 million), a whopping 3,240.5 per cent higher than in 2008 and 664.33 per cent greater than the year’s expected after tax profit.
Aufine Group Company Ltd has warned customers that record high natural rubber costs mean it will have to implement significant prices increases soon. Writing in a customer newsletter, company representatives blamed the price spike on the “heavy drought” experienced in south China and other parts of the region in Asia: “As a result, the output of natural rubber is reducing sharply, which [has] caused the price of current rubber and rubber futures [to] have increased crazily…We estimate a big increase on tyre price will come soon.”
Some Tyres & Accessories readers have accumulated sufficient birthdays to remember the year 1952, but the rest of you can well imagine the world of 58 years ago: Elizabeth becomes Queen, a ‘killer fog’ descends upon London, television continues to grow in popularity, the Korean War enters its third year – and the price of natural rubber hits US$3.50 a kilogram. Panic buying stemming from fear the aforementioned conflict would spread to neighbouring countries pushed prices to heights that would never again be reached. Until March 31, 2010, that is.
Alliance Tire Europe BV has announced that it will implement a price increase of around 4.5 per cent effective 1 April. All shipments after 1 April will be made at the new price. According to the company, Alliance has taken the decision “due to the rising of raw materials,” and “has no other alternative but to increase prices by an average of 4.5 per cent”. As a result some sizes and products will face a smaller increase, while others could increase above 4.5 per cent. “We are in the same situation as all other tyre manufacturers”, Manuel Pintado, president of Alliance Tire Europe BV commented.
Kwik-Fit has been supplying Marangoni tyres since February 1. The fast-fit network is now offering extra peace of mind for consumers purchasing from the Italian manufacturer’s range – all Marangoni tyres sold at Kwik-Fit come with a free puncture repair and free road hazard guarantee. With this guarantee, Kwik-Fit explains any repairable punctures are fixed free of charge, including re-balancing, valves and nitrogen refill, and any Marangoni tyre suffering accidental damage can be replaced free of charge.
Escalating raw material costs have prompted Toyo Tire Europe to raise its tyre prices. As of May 1, prices for tyres in all product categories sold throughout Europe will increase by an average of five per cent. The company states that increases in individual sizes may vary by market, however.
The prices of certain Lanxess plastic and rubber chemicals, including some used in the tyre manufacturing process, are increasing at of April 1, 2010. The company’s Rubber Chemicals business unit will raise prices for its Vulkanox, Vulkacit and Renacit products by up to 20 euro cents per kilogram, depending on product and region. Vulkanox is used as an antioxidant, Vulkacit as an accelerator and Renacit as a peptizer, and are used in the production of various rubber products, including tyres, hoses and driving belts.
50,000 tonnes less worn tyres will be processed this year if the current situation continues on its present trajectory. A week after the news that leading end-of-life tyre (ELT) processor Sapphire is mothballing its Avonmouth facility, the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) has released a statement warning that the tyre recovery infrastructure is no longer making economic sense to the processers responsible for disposing of many of the nation’s tyre arisings.
“In recent weeks it has become clear that processor ‘gate’ prices have fallen below the levels necessary to accommodate even our current used tyre arisings. As a result, processing capacity is now experiencing a substantial reduction. The consequences of this situation are that our ability to collect and move our product to processors is becoming severely constrained as the collections recovery `pipeline’ for passenger tyres in particular experiences overload,” the statement read, adding:
“For many months now, TRA members have experienced serious pressures on operating margins. Not only have they faced competition from many less environmentally-compliant operators in the marketplace but they have been increasingly unsuccessful in achieving a viable collection rates from their own customers. As a result of this combination of circumstances the situation in the UK recovery market has become critical.”
Goodyear has won the Environmental Award at the prestigious 2010 Fleet News Awards in London. The award’s judges praised the fuel saving qualities of Goodyear’s EfficientGrip tyre and recognised the successful green programmes introduced by the firm at the event held on Wednesday 17 March.
Lisa Faulkner, fleet manager for Goodyear, said: “We are delighted to win this award in recognition of the benefits delivered by EfficientGrip. This is something that fleet managers have been quick to realise by choosing a tyre that offers exceptional fuel efficiency without the need to compromise on safety. The award also underlines our company-wide commitment to the environment.”
Stamford Tyres has released unaudited results for the third quarter of its 2010 financial year – a quarter that, unusually, spans the period between November 1, 2009 and January 31, 2010. The company attained a total revenue of S$81.73 (£) during the quarter, and increase of 29.21 per cent on the same period a year earlier. Net profit amounted to S$2.37 million (£), compared with a profit of only $102,000 during the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.
As of April 1, 2010, prices for aftermarket Continental industrial tyres will increase by up to eight per cent in Europe. The company says this measure has been taken in response to “extremely sharp rises” in the cost of raw materials, especially natural rubber, and pronounced increases in freight costs, dating back to the second half of 2009. The company comments it had previously managed to keep prices for industrial tyres in the aftermarket business stable since April 2009.
Delticom North America, the US subsidiary of Europe’s largest online tyre retailer, has launched www.tires123.com, an online store targeting tyre retailers and service centres. The dealer-only website is the wholesale version of sister site tires-easy.com, a consumer site Delticom states is “known for its low prices for consumers.”
On May 1 the cost of Continental’s replacement market commercial vehicle tyres will increase by an average of 5.5 per cent in Europe. Upon making this announcement, Continental stated that by raising prices it is “thus reacting to the massive rise in raw material prices, above all for oil and natural rubber, since the second half of 2009.”
While the majority of tyre manufacturers are increasing prices, Vacu-Lug Tyres Ltd has announced that it is actually reducing the cost of the Yokohama truck tyres it exclusively distributes in Great Britain. Vacu-Lug managing director Tim Hercock commented: “We have been doing a lot of work recently to improve efficiencies in our sales and logistics channels and as a result have been able to reduce our distribution costs which we have decided to pass on to our customers,” in a statement explaining that the price decrease covers the majority of the Yokohama truck tyre range, he added: “we are constantly being notified by our other tyre suppliers that their prices are going up and we thought that we would try and buck the trend by making the product range more competitive”.
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