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Rhodia to Enter Silica JV in China

French chemical company Rhodia has announced it is entering into a joint venture agreement with the Qingdao Haiwan Group and Qingdao Dongyue Sodium Silicate Company to build a sodium silicate plant in Qingdao, China. The facility will boast a capacity of 220,000 tonnes and is scheduled to come on-stream during the first quarter of 2008.

Sodium silicate is a key intermediate for precipitated silica manufacturing. The new facility will supply Rhodia’s Asian silica manufacturing plants in Qingdao, China and Incheon, South Korea, which specialise in producing high performance silica predominantly used in the manufacture of tyres – most notably, according to Rhodia, low rolling resistance tyres.

“This new facility will give Rhodia a source of competitive raw material to support the growing needs of its silica business in Asia,” commented Eric Noyrez, President of Rhodia Silcea. “As the global leader in high performance silica, we benefit from a rapid increase in demand of the tyre, nutraceutics and silicone markets”.

8th May 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Korean Rubber Producers Fined

(Akron/Tire Review) Yonhap News Service reported that South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has fined Korea Kumho Petrochemical Co. and Seetec Ltd. a combined US$63 million on claims the two companies conspired to fix pricing on rubber products used in tyre production.

The commission found the two companies, which control some 90 per cent of the South Korean synthetic rubber market, colluded on pricing on styrene butadiene and butadiene rubber between 2000 and 2003.

Kumho Petrochemical is part of Kumho Asiana Group, which includes Kumho Tire Co.

10th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Tire to Spend £130 Million on New Factory

Hankook Tire Co., South Korea’s largest tiremaker, announced on February 23 its intention to spend 235 billion won (£130 million) building a new South Korean factory. The new tyre plant will be located at Geumsan, 198 kilometres south of Seoul, where the company has an existing plant with an annual capacity of 15 million units.

At present Hankook operates four tyre manufacturing facilities, two in South Korea and two in China. A fifth factory in Hungary is scheduled to enter production this spring.

23rd February 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Aims for Higher Margins

Hankook Tire Co has stated it is aiming to boost its operating profit margin to 9.4 per cent this year, up from last year’s 8.4 per cent, despite intense competition within the industry. In a company memo, Hankook CEO Cho Choong-Hwan said that although the company had been through a time of oversupply and rising raw material costs, “there are huge opportunities, however, for well positioned and competitive tyre manufacturers as natural rubber prices are stabilising, and consumption in Europe is beginning to recover.”

9th February 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Tire’s 2006 Profit Suffers – Material Costs and Strong Won to Blame

South Korea’s second largest tyremaker, Kumho Tire Co., has released news that its net profit declined significantly during 2006 due to higher raw material prices and a firmer South Korean won. Kumho Tire earned 1.09 billion won (£600,000) in net profit last year, compared with a profit of 98 billion won (£54.5 million) from the same period a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.

2nd February 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Gains US Approval for Aircraft Tyres

Kumho Tire Co. has passed the safety standards set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US for tyres intended for use on civilian aircraft. This milestone paves the way for larger volume US exports for the South Korean tyremaker.

22nd January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Posts 22% Full-Year Fall

Hankook Tire Co., South Korea’s largest tyremaker, posted a 22 per cent drop in full-year profit, citing higher materials costs and a stronger South Korean won as the primary reasons.

19th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Finalises Sale of Tyre Fabric Operations

While most of us were struggling to get over Christmas, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company were busy finalising the sale of its tyre fabric operations to South Korea’s Hyosung Corporation. The deal was closed on December 29, pending post-closing adjustments and the sale of its operation in Americana, Brazil.

3rd January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

China’s Vehicle Imports Up 72 per cent

Vehicle imports into China totalled 147,000 units in the first eight months of this year, the Xinhua news agency has reported. This is up almost 72 per cent on a year earlier. The imports were worth US$4.84 billoin and most came from Europe, South Korea and the US. Luxury cars and SUVs with engines of over three litres accounted for 49,000 of the vehicles imported. This was up 110 per cent on a year ago. The main buyers of SUVs were described by China’s General Administration of Customs as private mine owners, real estate developers and owners of private entertainment businesses. China lowered import tariffs on cars, cross-country vehicles and mini-buses from 28 per cent to 25 per cent on 1 July.

13th October 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Gets Go-ahead To Build Vietnam Factory

(Akron/Tire Review) Kumho Tire Co. has received approval by regional government authorities to build a $380 million tyre plant in southern Vietnam’s Binh Duong Province. Production is expected to begin in March 2008, with an annual output of 3.15 million units, according to Kumho. Jongsun Sun, general director of Kumho Tire (Vietnam) Co. Inc., said the tyre maker would invest $155 million for the first phase of the project, which will begin next month.

27th September 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Sells Cord Operations to Hyosung: Update

Following earlier reports of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company agreeing to sell its global tyre fabric operations to Hyosung Corporation, the company has released an official statement giving details of the transaction. Goodyear and its affiliates will receive $80 million for their tyre fabric manufacturing plants and assets, which include operations in Decatur, Alabama; Utica, New York; Americana, Brazil; and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, subject to post-closing adjustments. The facilities, which employ about 1,000 people, produce and treat fabric that is used in Goodyear’s tyres.

8th September 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

India Imposes Duty on Nylon Imports

The Indian finance ministry has introduced anti-dumping duty on nylon filament yarn and nylon tyre cord imported from China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Korea. According to the Directorate General of Anti Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), these items have been exported to India at artificially low prices. Importers of nylon filament yarn from China will have to pay a duty of Rs 63 (1.06 euros) per kg, but importers from Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea have been hit harder, paying Rs 77 (1.29 euros) per kg. The DGAD recommended that the finance ministry introduced duties on synthetic fabrics, saying that the Indian industry had suffered material losses because of dumping by exporters from these six countries, as the market for synthetic textiles in India continues to grow.

6th September 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Russian Scientist Sentenced for South Korean Espionage

A Russian scientist who worked in cooperation with Hankook subsidiary ASA has been given a six-year suspended sentence for his part in an international espionage case. According to Russian news agencies, Oskar Kaibyshev, 66, the former director of the Institute for Metals Superplasticity Problems (IMPS), had been on trial in the Supreme Court of the Volga republic of Bashkortostan for passing dual-use technology to South Korea.

11th August 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Amerityre Licenses Korean Firm to Produce Flat-free Products

Amerityre Corporation has announced that it has entered into a manufacturing and distribution license agreement with Joon “James” Won Lee, doing business as Flatfree, Inc., a South Korean corporation (“Flatfree- Korea”). Under the terms of the agreement, Flatfree-Korea will pay an annual license fee, purchase manufacturing equipment and purchase chemical systems.

24th July 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Names Oh to Sales Position

(Akron/Tire Review) Kumho Tire USA Inc. has named Kelvin Oh as its new sales coordinator and general manager. In his new post, Oh is responsible for coordinating long-term strategy and sales plans for Kumho in the US and communicating market information to company headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. Most recently, Oh has been North America sales team leader based in Seoul.

14th July 2006/by Tyrepress Editors