Vipal Makes Progress in South Eastern Europe with Gumi Nira Trans

Vipal is making great strides in South Eastern Europe thanks to the efforts of its Bulgaria based distributor. According to Radoslav Gradinarov, owner of Gumi Nira Trans Ltd, the company, which holds exclusive agencies for Vipal's retreading materials in Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Moldova, Vipal can now claim at least a 20% shared market of the precure sector in these markets. According to Gradinarov, 21 of the 55 retreaders in Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Moldova and Macedonia are already using Vipal products, a considerable achievement for a company, which has only been acting as the authorised importer for the region since 2005.

Gumi Nira Trans, based in the Black Sea city of Varna, was founded by Gradinarov and his wife Nina back in 1996 and initially operated as an importer of used tyres from West Europe. In 1998 the company opened its own retread shop, eventually switching the plant over to Vipal in 2003. After evaluating Vipal's product, the company became an agent in 2004, securing regional distribution rights a year later.

Gumi Nira Trans' retreading plant celebrated 10 years of operation in September and currently produces around 8,000 tyres a year. This consists primarily of truck tyres although the company also produces some precure car and van tyres for the local market. In addition to the retread plant the company's 8,000 sq m head office premises incorporates a warehouse and sales office from where the company markets its range of retreads as well as Antyre new truck tyres and Shifeng OTR tyres from China. The company also sells Chinese truck rims and retreading accessories from Salvadori. Gumi Nira Trans also possesses its own shop situated in Ruse. In total the company has 30 employees including a dedicated international team, which handles both imports and exports.

According to Radoslav Gradinarov, the retread market in the geographical area in which Gumi Nira Trans is active, currently stands at just over 200,000 units around 95% of which is cold cure. Bulgaria, the most advanced of the markets in question, has 15 retreaders producing about 90,000 units; Greece has around 20 shops producing 70,000 units, Romania 15 plants producing 40-50,000 units, Macedonia has 5 producers manufacturing about 8,000 tyres and Moldova - 2 shops producing about 5,000 tyres.

The regional total, says Gradinarov, is likely to rise in the near term due to the dollar exchange rate and the fact that the Chinese new tyre manufacturers have been forced to raise their prices. "Although we are relatively new to the market, our growth has been very good", he says. "We consider that about 20% shared market we have achieved may well be the best achieved by the Vipal brand in Europe". Gradinarov puts the company's success at least in part down to their good relationship with their principal and in particular to the excellent support and professionalism of Vipal's marketing chief, Maria Locatelli. In the meantime Gumi Nira Trans continues to market its products actively and has its eyes on further expansion. Indeed, the company is planning to expand beyond the 5 countries for which it has agencies.

Most recently, the company was an exhibitor at the Autotech- International Technical Exhibition in Plovdiv, where it was not only visited by its well known customers from across the region but was also able to win many new clients. The company has also already implemented a deal with Georgia, where the Tbilisi based company Geotaste Ltd has established the country's first retreading shop. Despite the unforeseen events in Georgia, Gumi Nira Trans was able to show willing to help and cooperate without any hesitation. After being given technical personnel training in Gumi Nira Trans's own retreading facility, the Georgians were able to press forward with their first production. In addition, Radoslav Gradinarov is keen to explore the possibilities offered by the OTR retreading sector and is interested in looking at potential technology partners in precured OTR retreading. Says Gradinarov; "We believe in the forthcoming years and we are aiming to increase our business more and more. We believe we will continue to grow despite the current financial crisis".

Issue 2008/4