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NEWS
BRV – The Voice of the German Tyre Sector
Germany is a big country and it has what is generally considered to be one of Europe’s widest ranging free market economies. Its tyre retail and wholesale sector is
huge, and the industry body representing the vast majority of wholesalers, retailers, retreaders and suppliers is the BRV (Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur-Handwerk e.V.). For the BRV in Germany, the market penetration of the BRV is, in many areas, complete. Few trade outside the BRV, so, as a consequence the BRV can lobby with a real mandate on behalf of the tyre industry in Germany, and it has a certain influence on how the industry behaves. It should be noted that the manufacturers are “sponsor” members of the BRV.
Its recommendations on service are more likely to be accepted and adopted universally as a result of its overall presence in the market. For Retreading Business, our key interest in the BRV is its involvement in representing the retread sector in Germany and at the recent Tire Technology exhibition in Cologne, Retreading Business took the time to meet with Hans Jurgen Drechsler of the BRV.
Herr Drechsler opened up by clarifying the position of the BRV, “We represent all of the retreaders and retailers together as one association in Germany. On the retreading side there are currently 60 retreaders who are members of the BRV, mostly operating in truck tyre retreading, but there are also three car tyre retreaders and the OTR retreader Roesler.
“Car tyre retreading has been reduced to little more than a niche sector. “Not even winter tyres have served to support the car tyre sector. There is a big market, 50 per cent of tyre sales in Germany are winter tyres but
many people buy new tyres even for winter tyres.
“In earthmover there are only really Roesler and OBO in the OTR sector with 30 per cent of the market. “The biggest sector is in truck retreading, where the retread tyres represent 36 per cent of the market. We are not happy with these figures because in other countries the retread rate is closer to 50 per cent. There is room for the market to develop a lot more in Germany.”
What is holding back the retread market in Germany?
“The first
reason is that
the
manufacturers
are starting to
retread too, so
they are
drawing casings
off the market
and that has
created a
shortage of
casings for the
wider market.
The second
reason is that
here is a huge
market for
cheap Chinese
tyres that
cannot always
be retreaded,”
explains
Drechsler.
We hear that
Germany is a net exporter of casings, so is it that there is actually a shortage of quality casings rather than casings in general?
“Casings are there but not to the quality required in Germany,” responds Drechsler. “It is not the case that every Chinese tyre is of low quality, but there are some that are good quality but there is a high percentage that cannot go to retreading and that creates issues.
“There is also a political dimension to these cheap tyres. This leads to the consequence of tyres for disposal, So the disposal element is greater. We understand that every tyre that is sold should be to European standards, that tyres are brought in illegally without markings, some may come in with false markings, why are these tyres not being tested. Is this not a job for government? Why are they not being tested? “It is simple, there is no money. They have money for other things
but not for testing tyres,” explains Drechsler.
The BRV and BIPAVER are examining the possibilities for creating a strategy to deal with cheap Chinese tyres and how we can support tyres that are manufactured in Europe.
So what other avenues can be explorered to develop truck tyre retreading in Germany?
“The fleet market in Germany is similar to the UK with a lot of large fleets. If the industr y can convert large fleets to whole life tyre costs that should strengthen
per cent of the market.
“To increase the market share then, the focus has to be on the independent sector rather than the large fleets. There are a lot of family networks in Germany. In this 75 per cent sector there are even some players from the UK competing for market share.
“One challenge is, at the moment, there are not enough carcasses of quality to generate the growth. “The other factor is that the retreaded tyres on trucks, they don’t have to move so far, regional use tyres can be retreaded 2/3
the role of the retreaders.
“The whole fleet sector in Germany is between 25 and 30 per cent, and of these 50 per cent are retreaded tyres. Especially in this sector the tyre manufacturers have a role. These fleets use European tyres from main manufacturers who can serve them across Europe.
“So the free retreading companies are more concentrated on the smaller fleets, which is about 75
times. Others need better quality for longer distance.
“The German Government has a De Minimus programme where they promote the environmental use of tyres, that naturally supports retreading and fleets get a bonus if they use retreaded tyres.”
Conti opened its plant, and at the same time withdrew contracts – in part impacting upon Ihle’s predicament, amongst others: Has
10 Retreading Business