Russia
Following weak performance in Russia and the CIS region in the third quarter of 2014, Nokian Tyres has revised its operating profit projection for the full year. The Finnish company now estimates operating profit of €300 million to €320 million for 2014, considerably lower than last year’s €385.5 million. Net sales, as per previous guidance, are also expected to fall compared with 2013.
The instability in both Ukraine and Syria has had a real impact on the outlook for trailer demand, indeed the East European trailer market is said to be flatlining in 2014. According to a new report produced by Clear International, nearly 7,000 trailers have been wiped from the forecast for the 2014/15 period. That is in addition to the reductions made to the last forecast in March this year following the annexation of Crimea. The forecast reductions affect Russia, Ukraine, Estonia and Latvia, plus Turkey which borders Syria.
Russian tyre manufacturer Nizhnekamskshina has is broken through the 2 million all-steel radial truck Tyre barrier at its Nizhnekamsk factory. Nizhnekamskshina commissioned the factory in 2011 after a two-year, $575 million construction project, according to online news reports.
Pirelli has announced the compounds it will make available for the forthcoming grands prix in Japan and Russia. The exclusive tyre supplier said it would announce its final three 2014 allocations after its visit to Sochi, Russia, a brand new circuit for which Pirelli has relied on simulation data in making its compound allocation choice.
Eleven years of Chinese government anti-dumping duties on imports of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) from Russia, Japan and South Korea ended on 8 September, the country’s Ministry of Commerce reports. The products had attracted duties of four to 38 per cent, however the ministry decided to remove them as these imports were deemed no longer a threat to China’s domestic tyre and rubber industry.
Half a dozen new SUV lines have entered Nokian Tyres’ summer tyre portfolio, and the Finnish manufacturer also reports that it has added to its van tyre range.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has signalled its involvement in Moscow International Automobile Salon 2014, to be held in Moscow, Russia from 27 August 7 September. The Yokohama exhibit will feature the company’s the global flagship tyre brand “Advan” and the winter tyre brand “iceGuard”, as it promotes the “high-performance Yokohama” image.
Rosneft has completed its purchase of a 13 per cent stake Pirelli to Rosneft, following Italian anti-monopolies approval multiple news sources are reporting.
Few tyre makers depend as heavily on the Russian market as Nokian Tyres, and the Ukraine crisis therefore lefts its mark on the company in the first half of this current financial year. Kim Gran, president and chief operating officer of Nokian Tyres, said the Russia and CIS markets “proved to be more challenging than estimated” in the January to June 2014 period due to the crisis’ escalation, and a “clear drop in sales value” occurred as a consequence. Both unit volumes and sales in the region declined; Nokian’s sales in Russia dropped 31.4 per cent year-on-year between 1 January and 30 June to €230.9 million while sales in the CIS countries plummeted 66.0 per cent to €6.9 million. Combined, the region experienced a 33.3 per cent decrease in sales, to €237.8 million. Most of this decrease in sales value resulted from the weakening of the Russian rouble.
Federal Tyres is hoping the allure of the world’s most famous football club will contribute to its success at one of Russia’s biggest motor shows, the Moscow International Automobile Salon (MIAS). A mystery “Manchester United legend” will join Federal on its interactive exhibition space at the show, continuing its United-themed marketing campaign in the region. The brand is also to run a competition through its online channels to win a Manchester United shirt signed by the first team in the run up to the event. The manufacturer has been the Official Tyre Partner of Manchester United in Russia and its domestic market, Taiwan, since August 2013, engaging in activities such as the Manchester United Soccer School programme and harnessing the club’s brand equity to target the Russian market, in which it hopes to build a significant presence by 2019.
The Belarus Digest reports that some residents of capital city Minsk have taking to puncturing tyres on Russian-registered cars they encounter. The publication opines that these attacks on cars bearing Russian number plates are in part occurring due to the increasingly “radical” attitude of some Belarusians towards Russia, a stance linked to the conflict in Ukraine. “These tyres appear to be just one example of their growing displeasure,” wrote the Belarus Digest’s Ryhor Astapenia. He added that this radicalisation is also the by-product of the authoritarian political climate in Belarus, under which “many feel they have no way to express their dissent other than by piercing the wheels of cars.”
Russia’s Rosneft, indirect 13 per cent shareholder in Italian tyre maker Pirelli, has commented on the decision by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to include it on the new sectoral sanctions list. The oil company was one of four energy sector companies added to the list on 16 July 2014; the sanctions were announced in response to unrest in Ukraine but were put in place before the crash of Malaysian Airlines MH17. Under the terms of the sanctions, US citizens can not undertake certain dealings with Rosneft and the other firms, and they will not be able to obtain medium or long-term lending from the US.
According to a German newspaper, Continental plans to step down as a World Cup sponsor. The Hannoversche Allgemeine (HAZ) writes that in future the tyre maker intends instead to solely sponsor regional confederations, such as Europe’s UEFA. This change to the company’s multi-million commitment is also said to apply to the next World Cup. “We have nothing more to do with the coming events in Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022,” the newspaper quoted a Continental spokesperson as saying.
Russia’s JSC Tatneft reports that Kama Euro-236 tyres are being supplied as original equipment for the Lada Largus. The first tyres were supplied from the Nizhnekamskshina factory in May 2014, added Tatneft in a press statement. The Lada Largus is built on the Renault-Nissan Alliance VO platform; the equivalent vehicle is sold in Europe as the Dacia Logan MCV.
When Tyres & Accessories spoke with Bertus Heuver earlier this year, he shared that Heuver Tyrewholesale was adopting a more geographic-based strategy in regards to its marketing, and was in the process of appointing new team members to enable the wholesaler’s national teams to cover all areas of Europe where it regularly does business. Four members have been added to the Heuver team in recent months.
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