From January to September, Sentury’s revenue and net profit reached 6.34 billion yuan (about £690 million; €820 million) and 1.73 billion yuan (about £190 million; €220 million) respectively.
On 30 September 2024, the first 17-inch and 18-inch tyres rolled off the production line at Sentury’s Morocco factory. The tyre manufacturer called this “the official start of production at the Morocco factory”. Qin Long, chairman of Sentury, attended the commissioning ceremony and announced that the first batch of tyre products officially rolled off the production line.
The Shandong authorities have presented a 2024-2027 action plan designed to improve the productivity of the tyre industry in its jurisdiction.
Tyrepress China found that Shandong Province is trying to build two tyre industry clusters, Peninsula and Lubei, accounting for more than 80 per cent of the province, with revenue of 60 billion yuan and 80 billion yuan, respectively.
Several Chinese research institutions recently jointly released the “2024 China Brand Influence Index Report”. In the report’s “Top 10 Tyre Brand Influence” list, Doublestar ranked first.
Sentury expects its profit in the first half of 2024 to be between 1 billion and 1.2 billion yuan. Sentury’s net profit increase is fantastic compared to last year’s period. The company’s net profit from January to June 2023 was 606 million yuan. Even if calculated at 1 billion yuan, Sentury’s net profit increased by nearly 65 per cent yearly. If calculated at 1.2 billion yuan, Sentury’s net profit almost doubled.
In 2023, Linglong’s various factories had a production capacity of 91.34 million tyres. Including the production of PCR products at the Serbian factory, in 2025 the tyre manufacturer’s annual production capacity will likely exceed 100 million tyres. Linglong’s tyre production base in Zhaoyuan, Shandong, has an astonishing production capacity of 36.1 million sets, including 30 million PCR, 5.85 million TBR, and 250,000 OTR tyres. The Dezhou base in Shandong has capacity for 9 million PCR and 3.2 million TBR tyres a year. The Guangxi production base can make 11 million PCR (1 million more than the designed capacity), 2 million TBR, and 140,000 OTR annually. The Hubei production base has capacity for the construction of 9 million PCR and 2.4 million TBR tyres. That opeartion’s designed PCR capacity is 12 million, and further under-construction capacity is expected to be completed in 2024. The Jilin production base can make 1.5 million PCR and 1 million TBR tyres. The company said that the capacity of the Jilin factory’s PCR production lines is expected to reach 6 million tyres a year in 2024. The company’s planned two production bases in Shaanxi and Anhui have not yet released their production capacity in 2023. The Thailand factory has 13 million PCR and 2.2 million TBR among overseas factories. Linglong said that its Thailand factory reduced its PCR production capacity by 2 million in 2023. The Serbian factory achieved a production capacity of 800,000 TBR tyres in 2023, and the designed scale of 1.6 million tyres is expected to be completed in 2024.
In 2023, the overseas market has become essential for Chinese-listed tyre companies to increase revenue and profits. According to statistics from Tyrepress China, the overseas revenue of Sentury, Sailun, Jiangsu General, Prinx Chengshan, Triangle, and Doublestar in 2023 was higher than revenue in the Chinese domestic market. Aeolus, Linglong, and Guizhou Tyre have higher domestic market revenue.
The first tyre produced by Sentury’s Morocco factory may roll off the production line before the end of September, with the manufacturer saying: “The factory infrastructure is close to completion and will soon enter the equipment commissioning stage”.
Sentury Tire has disclosed that it will invest the approximately RMB 2.8 billion (£313 million) it raised to set up a factory in Spain in the construction of its Moroccan plant instead. The motivation behind this decision, says Sentury Tire, is that while the facility in Spain is still in the “approval process” with no clear indication of when this will conclude, the tyre plant in Morrocco is “progressing well” and has a greater need for capital expenditures.
The United States Department of Commerce has released the results of its anti-dumping review of imported passenger car and light truck tyres (PCR) made in Thailand. The result of the re-examination investigation is consistent with the preliminary one and its good news for Thai tyre manufacturing plants. The release of the result also means PCR products produced in Thailand are expected to enter the United States market in large quantities soon.
Sentury Tire North America is recalling “a batch of passenger car tyres produced during Week 17 Year 2023” due to an issue which affects “the proper curing of the tyre’s tread base layer.” The recall relates to 16 SKUs across 12 different sizes and 10 brands. Overall, the US National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 8900 tyres are potentially affected.
On 21 October, Sentury said it had officially started constructing its tyre factory in Morocco. On 25 October, the tyremaker said it would add $193 million to its Morocco plant for 6 million semi-radial tyre production capacity. Sentury classified the additional investment as the second phase of the Moroccan tyre factory project. In other words, the total investment in Sentury’s Morocco factory has become US$490 million. After both projects are put into production, it will be able to produce 12 million semi-steel radial tyres annually.
Recently, Sentury appointed Philippe Oberti as deputy general manager and director of its R&D centre.
Approximately three-quarters of the funds that Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd. needs to set up a factory in Spain have been secured through a share issue. On 22 August, the tyre maker informed the Shenzhen Stock Exchange that it had issued 94,307,847 shares to 20 parties at a price of RMB 26.69 (£2.93, US$3.68) per share, raising approximately RMB 2.8 billion (£307.1 million, $386.4 million).
At the end of May, Sentury published details relating to the development of its overseas factories. The tyremaker said data for April and May 2023 showed that its production capacity was temporarily unable to meet orders. Therefore, the company believes there is an urgent need to increase production capacity in order to meet customer demand. According to Sentury’s statement, the overseas tyre traders and retailers they cooperate with include Discount Tire, OAK Tyres, Inter-Sprint, American Omni and Turbo Wholesale.
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