Page 8 - RB-74-15-3

NEWS
Chinese Tyre and Rubber Machinery Demand Rising
ministry, saying this seem to be a ‘concerted move’ to dump radial tyres in India and blunt the country’s edge in technologically superior radial tyre manufacturing. “The Indian tyre industry has invested nearly R200,000 million in manufacturing state-of-the-art radial tyres in the last 3-4 years. However, a significant capacity is lying underutilised as the demand is met from the imported radials, largely from China,” ATMA said in the letter.
Truck & Bus Radial tyres (TBRs) that account for a significant part of the new manufacturing capacities put in by tyre manufacturers have seen a significant jump in imports. TBR imports are up 60 per cent from 490,000 tyres in FY14 to 780,000 units in FY15. About 25 per cent of the domestic replacement demand for TBRs is met from imported tyres, says ATMA.
“The tyre industry has been promoting radial tyres in commercial vehicles for its fuel efficiency and safety, and has invested heavily so as to remain
ahead of the demand curve. However, imports of tyres have been taking place indiscriminately and at low prices, which in cases of Chinese imports, are even below the cost of raw material. This is causing injury to the domestic tyre manufacturers,” said ATMA chairman Raghupati Singhania. Since the tyre industry is highly capital intensive, imports not only threaten new investments but also imply a potential huge loss of jobs. According to ATMA, huge surplus capacities in China are abetting dumping of tyres in India. For instance, in case of TBRs, China’s manufacturing capacity is 120 million units while its domestic demand is 60 million units, producing 100 per cent surplus. The export prices of TBRs from China are significantly lower than the prices of such tyres in Chinese domestic market and also lower than prices of similar imports originating from countries in the same region such as Thailand. This clearly indicates dumping of tyres into the Indian markets, ATMA argues.
A recently-released report suggests that demand for tyre and rubber industry machinery in China will surge in the coming few years. According to the 'Global and China Rubber Machinery Industry Report, 2014-2017', the market value will reach US$4.07 billion by 2017.
This represents a 77 per cent increase on the 2013 figure of $2.3 billion, which itself was 36.5 per cent higher than a year earlier and 48.6 per cent of the global total (8.2 per cent more than in 2012).
The reports lists the top five rubber machinery companies in China, in terms of revenue generated in the rubber machinery segment, as being Mesnac, Dalian Rubber & Plastics
Machinery, Yiyang Rubber & Plastics Machinery Group, Tianjin Saixiang Technology and Guilin Rubber Machinery.
Their respective revenues from rubber machinery businesses were $405 million (+30.8 per cent year-on-year), $193.4 million (-7.0 per cent), $134.9 million (+38.2 per cent), $127.9 million (+49.2 per cent), $81.9 million (+6.0 per cent).
It also notes that two of these top-five companies, Yiyang Rubber & Plastics Machinery Group and Guilin Rubber Machinery, are subsidiaries of China National Chemical Equipment Corp., a company that also operates a third rubber machinery business, Fujian Sino-Rubber Machinery Co., Ltd.
Dunlop Wins Garuda Deal
Kenya’s Kingsway Supports Elephants Aware
In line with its Corporate Social Responsibility policy, Mombassa-based Kingsway Tyres Limited, a Michelin retreader with two plants in Kenya, recently presented a set of four BF Goodrich All- Terrain tyres to Mr. Nick and Elizabeth Cowell of Elephants Aware, a non governmental organisation based in Masai Mara.
The tyres will go a long way
to help anti-poaching rangers and their patrol vehicles in the fields at the Masai Mara, as they endeavour to protect the elephants.
Kingsway Foundation, the CSR arm of Kingsway Tyres Limited, is committed to conserving the environment and says it is proud to participate in the sponsorship.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres has announced that it has clinched a three-year deal to support Garuda Indonesia’s fleet of Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen regional jets.
The airline operates 15 of the aircraft and has three more on order for delivery later this year. Each aircraft is fitted with six wheels and Dunlop estimates that its contract with the airline’s maintenance company, GMF AeroAsia, will be worth in excess of US$3 million.
It is the first time that Dunlop, the world’s only dedicated aircraft tyre
manufacturer and retreader, has had an ongoing contract to support Garuda aircraft, although the company has previously supplied the airline on an ad-hoc basis.
“Garuda is one of Asia’s fastest- growing airlines and we are very pleased to have been given the chance to support its fleet of CRJ1000s,” said Dunlop Aircraft Tyres’ chairman, Ian Edmondson. “The new tyres for this contract will be made at our factory in Birmingham, with distribution and retreading at our facility in Jinjiang, China.”
Indian Tyre Manufacturers Claim Chinese Dumping
The Indian Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association, (ATMA) is concerned about the increase in tyre imports to India. Their records show that imports have increased by 60 per cent in the past year, and of that number some 70 per cent
have been sourced from China. This is threatening the growing Indian radial tyre market, and as it has elsewhere in the world, is undermining the prospects for retreaders.
ATMA sent a letter to the commerce
8 Retreading Business