China has begun establishing a rubber Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Sri Lanka. The arrangement will help promote the country’s rubber industry and boost sector earnings. In return, China is asking for long-term access to lands and tax concessions, according to various media reports.
Loadstar was founded by a Belgian investor and Jinasena, a Colombo-based engineering group. The firm has a plant in Ekala, north of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo.
The business was renamed Camso Loadstar in 2015.
GRI Tires has announced the appointment of a new chairman and a new CEO.
Harris Premaratne was appointed as GRI’s chairman with effect from the 29 March 2018. A veteran banker, Premaratne’s appointment is intended to help take GRI to a “leading position amongst global specialty tyre manufactures”.
The Sri Lanka Association of Manufacturers and Exporters of Rubber products (SLAMERP) has praised the USA’s decision to revoke the countervailing duty imposed upon off-the-road tyres imported from Sri Lanka. Commenting upon the ruling made by the US Court of International Trade on 11 July, SLAMERP notes that it “expresses confidence” in the growth of Sri Lankan exports to the USA.
The solid tyre factory established by STARCO in Sri Lanka has been divested to TVS Group company Sun Tyre & Wheel Systems (Sun-TWS) for an undisclosed sum. The STARCO Lanka facility becomes Sun-TWS’ fifth manufacturing plant and, together with expansion programmes at its existing facilities, will help increase overall capacity by 40 per cent – a measure required in order to meet growing global demand.
GRI held the grand opening of its agriculture, construction and pneumatic material handling tyre factory in Sri Lanka on 25 January with the country’s president, Maithripala Sirisena as the company’s chief guest.
With the opening of its new, US$40 million factory in Badalgama, Sri Lanka, Global Rubber Industries Ltd. (GRI) has increased off-road tyre capacity and has added to its export portfolio. The facility was officially inaugurated on 25 January.
The Sri Lanka Association of Manufacturers and Exporters of Rubber Products (SLAMERP) celebrated its 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Cinnamon Grand Colombo on the 16 January 2018. The association was inaugurated in 1985 in order to offer “comprehensive representation, advocacy and to champion to all manufacturers and exporters of rubber products in Sri Lanka”.
A leading tyre manufacturer has placed a first order on Swedish tyre pyrolysis firm Enviro’s recycled carbon black (EnviroCB) for immediate delivery.
“Initially the order volume is small, but is expected to increase significantly over time. The customer is a global manufacturer of tyres and rubber applications and this order relates to industrial tyres”, says Thomas Sörensson, CEO of Enviro.
GRI reports that it is the first industrial tyre manufacturer in Sri Lanka to employ the benefits of the latest model of Marangoni Alpha Agrifast Italy. According to the company, this machine is “a compact, user friendly and advanced extruder server that is interfaced to tyre building bay drums for producing components such as tread base, tread cap, sidewalls all with joint less, in real time with the highest degree of accuracy and at high speed”. This machine is to be utilized at GRI’s latest state-of-the-art factory in Sri Lanka, set to commence production in January 2018. This brand-new factory will be the largest in Sri Lanka dedicated to produce specialty tyres and the first to produce radial agriculture tyres.
With the introduction of its two-wheel tyre range, Apollo Tyres now offers its full portfolio in Sri Lanka. As is the case with the company’s other products, the two-wheel range is being distributed within the country by sole national distributor Ideal Wheels & Tyres.
After six years of manufacturing solid tyres in Sri Lanka, STARCO is looking forward to expanding its distribution of these products globally. Tyres & Accessories recently spoke to Richard Todd, the company’s chief executive officer; he shared that establishing relationships with distributors in Asia and the Middle East was currently a priority for STARCO.
On 4 January 2017The US Department of Commerce (DOC) made final determinations in the countervailing duty investigations of imported off-the-road (OTR) tyres from India and Sri Lanka. In the India countervailing duty investigation, the DOC calculated a final subsidy rate of 5.36 per cent for mandatory respondent Balkrishna Industries and a final subsidy rate of 4.9 per cent for mandatory respondent ATC Tires. The government agency established a subsidy rate of 5.06 per cent for all other producers/exporters in India. In the Sri Lanka countervailing duty investigation, the DOC calculated a final subsidy rate of 2.18 per cent for mandatory respondent Camso Loadstar and for all other producers/exporters in Sri Lanka.
The Marangoni Group and UAE-based conglomerate the Onyx Group, through its subsidiary Ceylon Steel Corporation (CSCL), have signed a binding Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to the industrial tyre market. Upon announcing the MoU’s signing, Marangoni states that this represents “a further step in the strategy of Onyx Group to invest in the tyre sector, with the objective of becoming the largest tyre manufacturer in Sri Lanka and serving both local and international markets.”
Titan International’s final injury hearing before the US International Trade Commission (ITC) took place on 4 January, and today the company will file a post hearing brief. The off-road tyre specialist says it “remains optimistic” that the ITC will issue a final affirmative determination in these cases.
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