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PNEU EXPO
Pneu Expo – Lyon
parts of Germany, including the travel hub of Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, the TGV and other rail services simply ground to a halt. For the greater part of the show the northern part of France was snowbound and nothing was moving. Even in the south the roads were often bereft of traffic as there were
said that it was an expensive show to attend with a budget of around 30,000 Euro for his attendance at the show. He didn’t mind the expense if he managed to retain and generate business, but regardless, he needed to be there as France was his biggest market for his retread production. This was a message repeated by all the exhibitors. Unlikely as it seems, the Portuguese retreaders have a considerable share of the independent market in France.
It was also interesting to find not just Aliapur, the French organisation tasked with handling
Perhaps this year’s Pneu Expo was defeated by the weather, perhaps it was a sign of the times. The French tyre industry showpiece in Lyon faces the same difficulties as any other national tyre event in Western Europe. Lack of support from the major brands; and here we are not just talking about the top five being absent, but virtually all the key players were missing, except in some cases through local distributors. It would not be too far from the truth to say that retreaders almost exceeded tyre manufacturers in number, with a presence from Nortenha, Insa Turbo, Profil and, of course, with one of the larger stands in the show, Fedima from Portugal. There was no presence at the event of any French retreaders, yes they are rare beasts once you remove Michelin, Goodyear and
Bridgestone Bandag
from the picture, but
they do exist, but
Black Star elected not
to attend, holding
court for invited
guests at their plant
about 30 minutes
from the exhibition
centre. The one
French retreader
attending, was
patently more
interested in his tyre
collection and
valorisation business.
The paucity of exhibitors could not be blamed upon the weather, it is perhaps a mark of the state of the French market, mature, consolidated and with limited opportunities, perhaps. However, in a rather ironic appearance by the late snows of the winter, the North of France, Belgium, and
severe weather warnings. This, perhaps, accounted for lower than anticipated attendance figures.
producer responsibility for waste tyres by the mainstream manufacturers, with a large stand
at the show, but another two organisations licensed to collect and valorise waste tyres. In fact, France now has five authorised bodies collecting tyres under their producer responsibility scheme, the monopoly is starting to look more like an controlled free market – if that isn’t a contradiction in terminology.
However, those attending with a purpose would surely have met with the right people, people looking to do business. All the retreaders were busy talking to prospective and current clients and were positive about the show. But one
46 Retreading Business