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LATIN AMERICA
Heriberto Romero Speaks on the Global Retreading Trend
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One of key speakers at the conference held during the Latin American and Caribbean Tyre Expo was the Managing Director of Mexican tread rubber manufacturer Hules Banda, Heriberto Romero Garcia, whose presentation focussed on “The Global Retreading Trend” Romero began by speaking about the burgeoning retreading market in Latin America, where there had been an increase in the number of both large and small retreading plants. In 2012, he said, retread consumption was up 8 per cent and estimated that by 2020 the retread market in Latin America will increase by 20 per cent compared with 2010.
On the subject of China, Romero drew attention to the fast growing new tyre market, which he said was expected to grow from 42 million units in 2011 to 76 million in 2017. Nobody knows how many retread plants there are in China, he said, but the market is estimated at 11 million units. This, he said, was expected to increase to as many as 20 million retreads by 2017.
On Europe Romero spoke about the
new noise and rolling resistance regulations, which he said would have an impact on the market in that region.
Romero also emphasised the importance of cost-per-kilometre considerations in the decision making process for buying retreads, pointing out that the price differential between new tyres and retreads had improved in the favour of retreaders over the past year. According to Romero, between 2010-2011 the average price of a new 11 R 22.5 rose from around USD 300 to USD 400. However, the price of a retread in that size rose only from USD 104 to USD 124, meaning that the price differential had increased from USD 196 to USD 276 over that period, a change which was clearly being seen as appealing to the vehicle owner. Despite this Romero also pointed out the key reasons why retreading was not done in certain areas, in particular ignorance about the retreading process, shortage and poor quality of casings, a lack of tyre management programmes and a lack of official standards.
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by Bridgestone-Bandag (ca. 280 plants) Michelin/Oliver (ca. 175 plants), Goodyear (ca. 120 plants) and Marangoni (ca. 45 plants), these 4 companies accounting for around 85 per cent of the retread plants. In terms of units the dominance of these four is even greater. According to Modern Tire Dealer Bridgestone controls 42 per cent of the market, Goodyear 28 per cent, Michelin 23 per cent and Marangoni 4 per cent. 2011 was a good year for retreading
n the USA, said Stevens, the market rising from 14.3 to 15.3 million units. However, casing shortages persisted. The average cost of a casing + retread now stands at USD 245.
TRIB’s Chamber Fire Study was carried out in July 2010 with a view to informing users about the fire
residues of flammable substances found in tyre demounting fluids. Even if the tyres are cleaned, says Stevens, this is often insufficient to prevent fire occurrence.
Of the respondents over 60 per cent had suffered at least one chamber fire in the last 10 years with 9 per cent suffering 5 or more. Analysis after fires revealed that toluene and xylene were often present in the casing remnants. The use of flammable solvents for demounting, said Stevens, causes the solvents to drain into the inner liner of the casing, which may sit for long periods. The solvents are liberated during the curing process and still may be present even after extensive cleaning. Static electricity sparks, he added, can then ignite the solvent vapours.
David Stevens: Overview of US Retreading Industry and Results of TRIB’s Chamber Fire Study
David Stevens, the Managing Director of TRIB, gave a short overview of trends in the US retreading industry during his presentation followed by an analysis of the results of a study carried out by the organisation into the causes of chamber fires.
The US market, pointed out Stevens has consolidated substantially since 1950 when there were around
12,000 retreaders in the country, albeit many of them passenger retreaders. Today, there are only 730 retreaders in the US although the amount of rubber used is the same. Retreading in the US, said Stevens, is dominated by the pre-cure method, which currently makes up as much as 94 per cent of the market. This is not surprising given the dominance of the leading retreading systems, led
autoclaves in recent years. These are caused when flammable vapours liberated during curing are ignited by a static spark or a heating element above the ignition temperature of the flammable substance. Many of these fires, said Stevens, have originated as a result of casings that contained
that flammable demounting fluid has been used. In this case, the Association says, the only practical solution is to reject the casing for retreading.
hazard caused by the flammable fluids used to demount tyres and their resultant rejection as casings for pre-cure retreading.
According to Stevens there were 205 respondents to TRIB’s study, which showed that there has been an
ncrease in the number of fires in
TRIB’s recommendation following the report is that casings should not be used for retreading unless the retreader is absolutely certain that flammable demounting fluid has not been used. Furthermore, if the tyre shows any evidence that it was difficult to dismount then it is likely
14 Retreading Business