Bridgestone has officially opened its third tyre plant in Thailand. The newly completed site, situated in the city of Chonburi, is predicted to produce 2,500 radial truck and bus tyres a day by the end of June 2005. What’s more the company estimates a further production capacity of 5,000 tyres a day by the end of 2006.
Malaysian news sources are reporting that Sime Darby Bhd’s tyre division, Continental Sime Tyre Sdn Bhd, is planning to increase its production.
Through its quality monitoring process, Michelin has come to the conclusion that a limited number of tyres within this production range may present, under Australian conditions of use, a risk of reduced robustness in the crown area, which may lead to a rapid loss of air pressure. As a consequence of this the company is recalling 10,000 tyres manufactured at Michelin’s truck tyre factory in Thailand between January 2003 and September 2003. The designated tyre is the Michelin brand 295/80 R22.5 XZE2+ TL 152/148M.
Rising real income in booming economies like China and Thailand are driving sales of automobiles there, Singapore companies YHI International and Stamford Tyres are poised to ride the strong tide of demand.
Yokohama Rubber Ltd. plans to invest 5.8 billion yen on a new truck and bus radial tyre factory in Thailand according to Hisakuni Yamashita, president of Yokohama Tyre Manufacturing (Thailand). The Thai unit was set up in January and will commence production in April 2005, with initial annual capacity of 315,000 tires and a final target of 600,000 tires in the second phase. Japan’s Yokohama Rubber owns 95 per cent of the Thai unit while the remaining 5 per cent is owned by T Siam Commercial Ltd., the Yokohama tyre distributor in Thailand.
A fire that started early Wednesday at a tire factory owned by Goodyear (Thailand) PCL damaged a raw material warehouse, but other operations weren’t affected, a policeman told Dow Jones Newswires.
Yokohama Rubber Co aims to open a new plant in Thailand, planning to roll out tyres in April 2005. It plans to set up a company there in January to make radial tyres for trucks and buses. The company plans to spend 5.5 billion yen to build a plant in Rayong that will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 tyres in its initial phase. In the second phase annual production is scheduled to double to 600,000. Its main product will be 22.5-inch tyres, and they will be exported to markets around the world. Yokohama Rubber plans to acquire a site of up to 225,000 square metres in Rayong’s Amata City industrial park for the new plant. The plant will employ a “small-batch” production system, which is designed to maximises cost efficiency even on a relatively small production scale, Yokohama Rubber said. The company adds that it may build more tyre plants in Thailand in the future.
Bridgestone Sales (Thailand) is embarking on a new TV advertising campaign, aimed at promoting the Firestone brand to drivers aged 18-25. Drivers in this age group are more likely to switch brands, says Marketing Director Yoshiaki Hiraishi, and Bridgestone aims to increase replacement market share from the current 5-6 per cent to 10 per cent. The move follows the launch of Michelin’s BFGoodrich brand into the Thai market. Hiraishi is confident that any increase in Firestone sales will not be at the expense of the Bridgestone brand, as the new campaign is specifically targeted at younger age groups, rather than motorists in general, where Bridgestone is more popular. The Firestone brand is well known in other sectors in Thailand, especially agricultural tyres, where the claimed market share is around 50 per cent, and pick-up trucks, where the share is 16 per cent.
Yokohama is set to invest 5.5 billion Yen (US$ 50.8 million) to build a new factory in Thailand, producing steel radials for trucks and buses. The new factory – Yokohama’s second for CV tyres outside Japan (the first is in the USA) – will initially produce 300,000 tyres annually, with this figure doubling to 600,000 units by 2007. The tyres will be marketed world-wide.
Hwa Fong Rubber manufacturer and distributor of Duro and Dunlop tyres, will list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Dec 15.
Reduced supply and increased demand – notably from Chinese companies – have pushed Indonesian rubber prices to a record high. Bad weather has restricted the amount of rubber tapped in Indonesia and other producing countries such as Thailand. Tyre grade rubber price is around 66.75 cents/lb, compared with last December, when the price was at a low of 39 cents/lb. A trader said that most deals tended to be for small quantities and short delivery. There has also been increased demand from Bridgestone and Goodyear.
The price of rubber in Thailand has risen to a record high of 50 Baht per kilo (1.07 Euro), which is good news for growers and not so god for producers of products such as tyres. Last year Thailand exported 2.35 million tonnes of rubber to 60 countries, with China and Japan each taking just under half a million tonnes. This year China is expected to be the largest customer, taking around 550,000 tonnes, valued at 30 billion Baht (642.6 million Euro).
Following the news yesterday that Ford was to increase production in Thailand, the company has announced that it will be investing $50 million to ramp up production at its factory in the Philippines. Output will rise from 15,000 vehicles to 40,000 by 2006 and employment will double to 1,250.
Ford and Mazda are to invest $500 million in their joint venture in Thailand; a country that Bill Ford says “will spearhead Ford’s Asian growth strategy”. The investment will increase annual production from 135,000 vehicles to 200,000, plus Ford plans to set up a regional headquarters in Thailand.
Shell has bought the chain of 11 Kwik-Fit car service centres in Poland for an undisclosed sum. The workshops will operate under the Shell autoserv brand name – currently there are over 150 Shell autoserv centres operating in Australia, South Africa, Mexico and Singapore. The purchase of the Kwik-Fit centres marks Shell’s first steps into the Polish car servicing market; a market that the company says is worth $855 million and which is growing at an annual rate of 4.6 per cent. Graeme Robinson, MD of Shell autoserv in Poland, says that the company plans to have a network of 70 service centres operating in Poland by 2008.
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