Rubber & tire industry in numbers

Review of the key figures and data to emerge this week from leading players in the global industries: 

PROJECTS / RESTRUCTURING

PROJECTS

Tire & rubber machinery major Mesnac is planning to invest $20m in a manufacturing facility in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico to support growing demand in North America.

China’s 10^th largest tire maker Shandong Haohua Tyre is to inaugurate a $500m plant in Binh Phuoc, Vietnam by the yearend. The unit is designed to produce 12m units/yr of light vehicle (LV) tires and 2.4m units/yr of heavy vehicle (HV) tires, with a total output value of $770m and creating up 1,600 jobs. With 2022 sales of $909m, the group operates three plants in China with overall capacity of 5m HV and 20m LV tires/yr. The Vietnam plant will 'ultimately have capacity to produce 3m HV and 17m LV tires/yr'.

Ghandhara Tyre and Rubber Co. Ltd (GTR) signed an MoU with Shandong Huasheng Rubber Co. Ltd to explore setting up a tire-making JV in Pakistan to procduce HV and LV tires. With over 4,500 employees, Shandong Huasheng operates five plants in Dongying City, China with a combined capacity of 18.5m units/year for car, van and truck & bus tires. Karachi-based GTR lists its current annual capacity at 2.4m for ‘automotive’ tires, and 1.6m for motorcycle tires.

Bridgestone is progressing a previously announced upgrade programme at its Burgos, Spain site, with a €45m investment in 2025 set add to €33m already invested in 2024. In March, Bridgestone disclosed plans to invest “up to €207m at the Spanish car tire plant in Spain.

Chinese carbon black major Jiangxi Black Cat Carbon Black Co. has progressed a Yuan688m, 160ktpa project to produce rubber composite masterbatches. Around '80% of the civil engineering work on the project has been completed'.

Santo Tirso, Portugal-based Camac Tyres has formed a division to serve the tire retreading and conveyor belt industries in Europe, said parent group SPC Europe. 

M&A AND RESTRUCTURING

Continental AG’s board has decided to spin off its ‘automotive group sector’ following a detailed evaluation launched in early August. Subject to approval by the supervisory board in March 2025, the spin-off is expected to take place by the end of 2025, Continental announced 9 Dec. The group is also to “strengthen the independence of its Tires and ContiTech group sectors.”

Mumbai, India-based Ceat is acquiring the Camso off-road construction equipment bias tire and tracks business from Michelin – including global ownership of the Camso brand and two plants in Sri Lanka – for $225m. The operation being acquired generated 2023 sales of $213m.

SHARE PRICES

Leading tire manufacturers’ share-price trends

Leading rubber product manufacturers’ share-price trends

MATERIALS 

Natural rubber

TSR20 prices remained in a narrow range of less than 10 €cents/kg CIF during November, the Rubber Trade Association of Europe (RTAE) reported. The trend was in marked contrast to the swings of up to 10 €cents/kg daily seen in early October following a sharp rise – by about 25 €cents/kg – towards the end of September.  (See also Chart above)

TSR20 average monthly price 2024 (€/tonne)

_{Source: Rubber Trade Association of Europe}

 Natural rubber (NR) futures continued to gain for the second week in a row amid higher Chinese commodity prices and supply concerns. The first full trading week of December ended higher across all major rubber exchanges in the Far East, Japan Exchange Group (JPX) reported 9 Dec. Strong buying by speculators and Chinese commodity funds pushed prices to their highest levels in two months, according to JPX. Prices were also driven by heavy rain and floods reported in major producing countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Selected NR futures price trends on major trading exchanges

(ERJ calculation for selected futures)

Previous ERJ week in numbers.