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UAE/OMAN
House of Tyres Widens Product Portfolio
tyres each month,” said Francis. The Ruwi based plant imports tread rubber from Midas and has two autoclaves of 7 tyres each. Talking about the chances of reviving the retreading sector, Francis said, “If Chinese tyre prices go up or import duties on Chinese tyres are hiked,
Tip Top materials,” he said. The company is also a distributor of Rema Tip Top in Oman.
When the market was buoyant and favoured retreading, House of Tyres retreaded largely Japanese casings from Bridgestone. “Those were tough casings and could be retreaded a
The retreading industry has been badly hit in the Middle East by low priced tyre shipments from China. The auto centres in Oman have been flooded with the cheap, new Chinese tyres, and as a result fleet owners are increasingly attracted by the lure of new tyres even if they are low in both quality and price.
Things were running smoothly for the Omani retreading industry five years ago. The retread sector was on the upswing, but after a ban on the import of casings enforced by the Omani government, the retreading industry was hit badly and has been unable to recover. “We used to import old casings from neighbouring UAE but when the government banned the shipment of old casings from everywhere, sales went down forcing several retreading companies to close down their businesses,” said P T Francis, Asst GM, House of Tyres. Moreover, authorities in the region have introduced new regulations on imported tyres. Under the new regulations production and expir y dates for TBR tyres is maximum 3 years and for car tyres 2 years. “Therefore, no one can sell more than three year old casings, and
if they have exceeded the three year time period, they are treated as scrap,” Francis informed. Now the retreading market is at an all-time low as a maximum 2,000 tyres
are retreaded in Oman each month. The decline in retreading is further bolstering sales of new Chinese tyres, which are growing at the rate of 15 per cent annually.
Retreading companies
are being forced to
diversify into the new
tyre business to
survive, and ironically,
they are selling the
same Chinese brands,
which have been
responsible for killing
their business. “We
have a complete range
from some of the Chinese brands,” stated Francis, who has been residing in Oman for more than two decades.
House of Tyres claims to have been a pioneer of retreading in Oman, having retreaded more than 1,000 TBR tyres per month before the casing import ban. “At times, the production peaked at 1,500 tyres, but since the ban it has gradually come down each year. Now, we retread 400-500
retreading might be revived in the Oman market.” However, the scenario has further worsened since the devaluation of the Yuan, and Chinese tyre makers have further brought down prices and flooded the Oman market.
House of Tyres has widened its product offering by adding OTR repair to its portfolio. “We repair around 30 OTR tyres of Chinese make in one month using Rema
number of times, but they are now hardly visible in this market. Due to the overwhelming presence of Chinese casings, we hardly find a suitable tyre to retread. The result of this could be the “decline of the retreading industry in Oman and the whole region,” Francis said.
P T Francis, Asst GM, House of Tyres
Ozone Looking for Right Time to Enter Truck Tyre Retreading
UAE is an interesting market because despite the government tightening retreading standards resulting in several companies leaving the industry and creating the space for altogether new entrants, other existing players are pursuing acquisition strategies to expand their reach. The UAE, therefore, is a perfect mix of different characteristics, where consolidation, expansion and forays are all taking place despite the highly competitive nature of the market.
It has been observed that the UAE is inching towards better retreading standards as existing companies invest in hi-tech equipment to meet more
stringent retreading norms, while new entrants are increasingly aware of quality requirements before entering the market and bringing new products. “We have yet to start retreading as we are still studying the right tread rubber that suits and can cope with these market conditions,” said a spokesman for Ozone Tyre Manufacturing LLC, who are looking to start truck tyre retreading.
The company says it has approached both Kraiburg and Leadertread from S Africa. “Leader is a good product as it has side flaps that sticks the tread to the casing properly and
hold on firmly in heat and overloading conditions,”
said Aswin Dsouza, Managing Partner, Ozone Tyre Manufacturing LLC
The UAE government has been tightening the noose around fly- by-night operators in order to improve quality standards. “There have been a lot of problems with tread rubber coming into the UAE market in recent times along with the fact that the prices of retreaded tyres have been dropping due to the market being flooded with low priced imported tyres. Therefore, we are looking for the right time to enter,” said Dsouza.
The company says it has the equipment and plant ready to commence retreading but is waiting for the right juncture. However, the company has started OTR repairing with Rema Tip Top. “The OTR market is still small and opening up. Therefore, we are focusing on companies using branded OTR tyres. The Chinese are not very popular with these companies,” he said. OTR repairing is a specialised job and Ozone’s repairing team is trained by the Rema Tip Top dealership at Arab Bandag.