Top 10: ERJ Global Tire Industry Reports

ERJ Daily Newsletter reports trending in the global tire industry this week:

Tariff-hit Chinese tire makers to “intensify” EU trade

London – Chinese tire makers will seek to increase trade with Europe following the imposition of tariffs on their imports to the US, believes Hans-Jurgen Dreschler, chief executive officer of the BRV. “In general, we assume that they [the Chinese] will try to intensify sales in Europe,” said the German tire association leader – though he does not expect this to affect the European market in the near term.  Read more

Synthetic rubber prices set to fall further

London – Global markets for butadiene rubber (BR) and styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) are set for further declines in 2015 on the back of “continuing soft demand”, leading players in these markets forecast. “As far as the butadiene rubber market is concerned, the word I would use is ‘desperation’”, Richard Dobson, head of rubber and chemicals distribution company Matarox told ERJ.  Read more

China’s trade association to appeal against US tire duties

The China Rubber Industry Association (CRIA) is to organise an appeal by domestic tire makers against the recent US decision to impose heavy anti-dumping duties on passenger and light truck tires imported from China. “To issue such high duty rates would impair China’s tire manufacturing sector as well as harm the interests of American consumers,” said a CRIA announcement issued on 22 Jan. Read more

US ruling on Chinese tire imports goes into effect

Washington — The US Commerce Department’s preliminary anti-dumping determination on Chinese passenger and light truck tires went into effect on 27 Jan. with the ruling’s publication in the Federal Register. With the official publication of the decision, nearly 70 manufacturers and importers of the subject Chinese tires and their subsidiaries must now begin paying the preliminary antidumping duties as determined by Commerce, retroactive to 90 days before publication.  Read more

China “deeply concerned” by US tire duties

The Chinese government has signalled its concern about the ‘flawed decision’ by the US Department of Commerce (DOC) on 21 Jan to impose preliminary anti-dumping duties on tires produced in China. Chinese enterprises involved in the case were hit with duties of 19.17 percent and 36.26 percent, respectively. The DOC also set a 87.99percent China-wide rate for any company not previously listed.  Read more

Chinese-Uzbek deal to build €160m rubber plant

Tashkent – China’s Poly Technologies and the Uzbek government have signed an agreement for the construction of a rubber products plant in the country, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). The president of Uzbekistan has signed the agreement that paves the way for the project involving Uzkimyosanoat, one of the country’s largest chemical firms, and Poly Technologies, part of China’s state-owned China Poly Group Corp.  Read more

Hankook sales down in 2014

Soeul – Hankook Tire Co. Ltd has released its annual results for 2014, registering a 5.5-percent drop in sales. Operating income remained almost unchanged compared with 2013. Global annual revenues reached €4.78 billion and operating profit of €737.1 million for the fiscal year 2014, the company announced. Read more

Report: World industrial rubber demand to keep growing

Global demand for industrial rubber products is expected to grow 6.6 percent a year and reach $158 billion (€139 billion) in 2018, according to Freedonia Group Inc.’s study, world industrial rubber products. There are two big factors for the projected growth in the global market. The developing markets will continue to lead the charge over the next five years, said Ken Long, analyst at Freedonia, while developed markets will rebound. Read more

Michelin invests in Ecomobility Ventures

Clermont-Ferrand, France – Michelin and Air Liquide have joined a host of other companies to invest in Ecomobility Ventures, a European investment fund dedicated to innovation in sustainable mobility. In a statement, Michelin said that the Ecomobility Ventures investment fund, created in 2011 by SNCF, Orange and Total, contributes to the development of sustainable mobility by supporting innovation and cooperation between start-ups and larger groups. Read more

Rubber science eats shoots and (now) leaves

London – Efforts to commercialise the production of natural rubber from plants such as guayule and the Kazak dandelions, could receive help from yet another unexpected source – the humble lettuce. The discovery follows research by Dae-Kyun Ro, associate professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary, who has recently published the results of a seven-year study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Read more