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CHINA
Shandong Dezhou Raid on Retreader
The paper recognises that tyre recycling is an important business and that retreading could be a very useful element in that process. It notes that China uses 27 per cent of the total world rubber production and that the country is dependent upon imports to ensure the future of its own rubber based industries.
The report concedes that the scientific and proper retreading of tyres has many benefits to both the community and the environment so long as the work is done in line with safety
regulations, which do exist in China. However, it concludes that even although 80 per cent of the retreaded tyres in the market are used for public transport and haulage, there is very lax application of the regulations and this allows some retreaders to operate at lower standards, this in turn drives the reputation and the quality of the product downwards and means that most retreaded tyres offer no warranty.
The paper calls for greater supervision and improved standards.
Chinese Retread Sector Suffering
At the end of July, the Chinese Tyre Renovation and Recycling Association (CTRA) chairman, Zhu Jun, said that the tyre retreading industry had been plunged into the doldrums, many small enterprises had closed production or semi-shutdown; large companies had also been impacted by cuts. A statistical report, from information analyst Yu Ding and Long also showed that nearly half of the Chinese retread sector had closed down or was in a reduced state of operations.
Sichuan and Chongqing are two of the more developed regions for retreading.
Sichuan Tyre Renovation and Utilization Association Vice Chairman, General Sun Fangshou took a bleak view. He said that at present, China's tyre retreading business produced a very poor living. Sichuan retreading had seen a total decline of 51 per cent over last year, sales fell 49 per cent, production fell 64 per cent. Sichuan retreaders of all sizes were facing losses.
Zhu said that the main reason for the retreading industry downturn was as follows: Firstly, "the safe operation of
motor vehicles technical conditions" for vehicle use of retreaded tyres created restrictions, "the vehicle steer axle cannot be fitted with retread tyres any longer; and all wheels, such as the use of retreaded tyres, shall comply with the relevant provisions of the standard." The standard implementation, has been a considerable blow to the retreading industry.
Secondly, our country uses a very poor quality of new tyres and they are not suitable for retreading.
Thirdly, our vehicle overloading creates a very serious problem, a lot of tyres are driven to the point of scrapping
Fourthly, the majority of consumers recognise that there is a problem with retreaded tyres, retreads are not generally considered to be of the same quality as new tyres, but that is not always the case. Regulation could be used to create retreads of even better quality.
He also said that the small workshop enterprise shutdown is not entirely a bad thing, it will help regulate China's tyre retread industry.
An example of the problems with Chinese retreading comes with the report from Shangdong, of a police raid on a black workshop where tyres were being retreaded illegally.
The old tyres were stacked outside the workshop, many with damaged casings, some with large holes. The Police were concerned
that these tyres were
being retreaded and sold
as counterfeit goods.
The police responded to
complaints from local
villagers who were
unhappy about the
business going on in the
workshop. The Police
discovered tyres, boxes of
black gum and treads
that were being glued
onto the old casings, allegedly without any proper preparation of controlled curing. These tyres were then sold “as new”.
The concern is that these tyres are not being retreaded to any set standard, there is no control of the depth of buffing, nor the match of the tread.
Chinese
According to the owner of the workshop, there is no problem, this is a practice that can be found all over China, so it cannot be dangerous.
The police highlighted that cold cure retreads were supposed to
carry proper identification and that these tyres did not have that marking, so were illegal. The case was passed to the Municipal Bureau for Quality and the tyre workshops were banned in that locale.
The issue for the retreading sector in China is that there needs to be proper
enforcement of the regulations and quality standards, and for so long as there are so many small black workshops like the one described above, the retread sector is damned to a future of poor quality and a bad reputation.
Retreading Goes
Unregulated
The Yanzhao Evening News recently carried a report about retreaded tyres in China. It doesn’t make for positive reading. The report describes the process of retreading n very basic terms, and as such no client in their right minds would, in today’s market buy such a tyre.
The report describes a highway bounded on both sides by workshops offering retreading by advertising on handwritten signs at the side of the road. These are often accompanied by piles of waste tyres according to the report.
Driven by profits, the paper relates, these “dealers” refurbish any tyre that comes their way and create a serious threat to road safety. However, despite a spate of investigations and reports, the “retreading” operations and the issues fade from peoples’ minds when they need cheap tyres, according to the report.