Most of China’s tire makers resume production

Beijing – Over 90% of China’s tire makers had resumed production as of the end of February, and most of those companies had 80% employees returning to posts.

Nevertheless, the facilities were running at an average utilisation rate of 45%, significantly lower compared with the same period a year ago, noted a China Rubber Industry Association’s tire sub-committee.

This compares to only a third of tire manufacturers, such as Zhongce, Triangle, Huasheng and Sentury, resuming production in mid-February. 

However, utilisation rates at many of those producers were pegged at 10-30% capacity at the time of an earlier survey by the subcommittee.

The tire companies have been upping their utilization rate as labor and logistics recovers. Guizhou Tyre, for instance, told its investors on 9 March it was running at full capacity with 35% of production in volume for overseas orders.

Tire plants in Hubei province, where the coronavirus outbreak first started, have also been preparing for production resumption since mid-March when risks lowered.

Facilities set to restart include Linglong’s factory in Jingmen, Aulice’s truck and bus facility in Huangshi and Doublestar’s Dongfeng Tyre subsidiary in Shiyan.