Raw Materials
The London-based Royal Society of Chemistry writes that scientists in Spain have reported the first self-healing polymer that spontaneously repairs itself without any intervention. Although the material – dubbed the ‘Terminator’ after the shape-shifting terminator seen in the franchise’s second film – is some time away from commercial release, it may be suited to a wide array of applications, including in tyres.
Jiangxi Black Cat Carbon Black (Black Cat Inc.) reports that exports are growing fast after the firm redoubled efforts to improve “product quality, technology innovation” as well as expanding cooperation with certain leading international companies such as Bridgestone and Michelin.
No dinosaurs went into the production of a tyre Sumitomo Rubber Industries will launch at the Tokyo Motor Show – some 12 years after it began working to reduce fossil fuel content in its products, the Japanese company is now ready to roll out its first 100 per cent fossil fuel-free tyre. And when the show begins on 23 November, visitors won’t just be looking at another concept tyre – Sumitomo says it is gearing up to introduce this milestone in its Enasave programme into the domestic market. The new tyre will be sold under the Dunlop brand name.
Nokian sales and profits are down 5.7 and 18.4 per cent respectively for the first half of 2013, the company has reported. However the second quarter has been increasingly strong for the company, with net sales totalling 419.1 million euros 1.3 per cent up on the second quarter of 2012. President and CEO Kim Gran said that the company had been strong in the Nordic countries and Russia particularly during this period, and Nokian expects growing winter tyre demand – playing to the company’s strengths – in these countries and in central Europe during the rest of the year.
Cooper Tire & Rubber’s second quarter 2013 results – most likely the last it will post before its incorporation into Apollo Tyres – showed a year-on-year drop in net sales, operating profit and net income. Net sales amounted to US$884 million, a decrease of $174 million compared with the same period a year ago, and operating profit for the second quarter was $69 million, $26 million lower year-on-year and 7.8 per cent of net sales. Net income was $35 million, or $0.55 per share, down from $52 million, or $0.82 per share, for the same period last year.
Announcing its results for the first half of 2013, Pirelli has shown a year on year 6.1 per cent reduction in earnings before interest and taxes compared with the first half of 2012. This occurred in spite of a second quarter in which the manufacturer saw signs of improvement, with revenues climbing 8.8 per cent on 2Q 2012 following a 1.3 per cent YoY reduction in the first three months of the year. However, net profit for the quarter was also some way off that of the 94.9 million euro achieved in 2012, at 78 million euro.
July's Tyres & Accessories is now available online. This issue includes features on Tyre Manufacturing, Batteries and Previews the forthcoming NTDA TAFF Awards. Subscribers can view this online by clicking more below.
As mentioned on 30 July, Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s second quarter net earnings per share of US$0.67 were markedly above the average analyst estimate. Deutsche Bank Equity Research Automotive comments that Goodyear’s Q2 operating earnings per share of $0.76 were a full $0.32 cents per share above its own prediction.
Hankook’s second quarter results show that the manufacturer is well-placed to take advantage of the anticipated gradual recovery of replacement markets in the next year and a half. Indeed, the 1.4 per cent increase in revenue growth indicates that the Korean manufacturer is already experiencing some upward momentum, this figure having declined in the previous two quarters. Deutsche Bank analyst Sanjeev Rana commented that the company’s ongoing product mix improvement and falling raw materials costs should combine with the American and European recovery to keep Hankook’s margins “resilient”, while the bank also expects its operating profit to “grow 18 per cent” year-on-year in in the second half of 2013.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has announced what it says are record second quarter earnings, and even its European business showed signs of improvement. Net income more than doubled year-on-year from $85 million in Q2 2012 to $181 million, or $0.67 per share. This exceeded the average analyst estimate by $0.19, and company chairman and CEO Richard J. Kramer said the result demonstrates “the disciplined execution of our strategies by Goodyear associates around the globe as our operations become more efficient, reliable and integrated.”
Upon announcing first half 2013 results, Michelin voiced its expectation that mature markets will continue their recovery from last year’s weakness in the remainder of the year, while expansion should be seen in emerging markets. Should this trend play out, the French manufacturer sees itself in good stead to achieve its projected full-year volumes. This is all well and good, however Michelin’s reportage of its latest results said little about the first-half bottom line, which is markedly down on the same time last year.
In June 2013 almost all tyre segments outperformed the same period last year, according to sales data released by European industry body ETRMA on 16 July. Winter tyres were said to be the exception to this rule, but no further details have yet been given. One perhaps surprising observation is that markets with weaker economies in Southern Europe are actually performing better than the more established DACH or Scandinavian regions “In southern Europe, the consumer cannot delay any longer change of tyres. We seem to have reached the bottom”, ETRMA secretary general, Fazilet Cinaralp commented. However as good as bottoming out may be for future prospects of an upturn, in the short term is said to be bad news for input suppliers.
The commercial availability of Sumitomo’s Enasave 97, albeit in small volumes, has demonstrated the feasibility of producing tyres containing very little in the way of fossil fuels. Introducing completely or nearly fossil fuel-free products in greater quantities is a goal held by all tyre majors, and Continental’s head of material and process engineering has shared some details about the German tyre maker’s progress in this direction.
Two papers delivered at the end of the tyre-based segment of the International Rubber Research and Development Board's International Rubber Conference 2013 focused on rubber technologies helping to create the next wave of green tyres. Dr Stuart Cook, the director of research at TAARC, gave a brief history of the research centre’s development of Ekoprena, starting with Michelin’s identification of the first “green tyre” back in 1992, while Sumitomo's Kozaburo Nakaseko indicated the corporation's intention to launch a "fossil fuel free tyre" in the second half of 2013, mixing "epoxidised natural rubber" with a more highly refined rubber product.
At an official ceremony on 4 June, attended by around 400 guests, German specialty chemicals firm Lanxess inaugurated its new butyl rubber plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island. Built at a cost of 400 million euros, the facility is the company’s largest ever single investment and is described as being the “most modern of its kind in Asia.” The 100,000 tonne per annum plant will produce premium halobutyl rubber and regular butyl rubber.
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