Page 32 - RB-76-16-1

SPAIN
Cautious Optimism from AER
We last visited the AER (Spanish Retreaders Association) and its director Pedro Espinosa Chicote back in 2012. At that time, the Spanish economy had arguably reached ground zero of its economic problems, with an unemployment rate at a staggering 25 per cent and youth unemployment at an eye- watering 50 per cent. This was
construction and tourism industries, who were big consumers of retreads in general. However, the retread sector wasn’t the only casualty of the crash in the Spanish construction and tourism sectors. With much of the economy reliant upon these two industries, it was only natural that many sectors and industries would be afflicted.
mirroring the overall Spanish economy. However, it would be unwise to suggest that the sector is out of the woods yet, with noticeable falls for cold retreading
and hot
retreading
according to
Europol in
2015.
Judging by
the
stabilisation
in truck tyres and measures being taken to protect the industr y against the import cheaper Chinese tyres, it would appear that worst may be over, but without being unduly optimistic, lots of work still needs to be done.
Moving on, another area of previous concern for Espinosa and the retread market in Spain was the continuing issue of a number of pirate retreaders operating without the necessar y ECE certification. According to Espinosa, this issue has now resolved itself and is “not a problem anymore.” Furthermore, with regards to the Retyre project, Espinosa advised us that he does not believe it is a “solution to the problem”, as they know that the retreading industry’s figures are worse for rolling resistance. A key aspect as always is for them to ensure that they have good statistics for sound and rolling resistance going
forward. Espinosa did concede that he does not think they will be able to recoup the costs for the project, but stated that the project was more of an operational cost of investing in a positive image for retreads, as the project in his view is actually very good in illuminating the advantages that the products have to offer. An additional area of interest for AER is their campaign to push for improvements in the passenger retread market. Espinosa emphasised that a key importance to AER’s work is that they are trying to show the quality and reliability of retreads in Spain, whilst hammering home the message that there is no limit for the
use of these products. The
second part of this work is seen through their work with the government to push for the use of retreads with buses and post vans amongst other vehicles
used in public transport.
With regards to passenger retreads at a European level, Espinosa noted that, in his eyes, there are
more opportunities out there for the passenger retread market and suggested that BIPAVER should possibly have a wider focus rather than concentrating on the specific area of truck tyres. Commenting further on the work that BIPAVER do, he emphasised that the European federation needs to continue to work with the EU to promote the use of retreads, whilst pointing out that the EU needs to champion the use of recycled products in general, not just retreads.
The future in Spain, though, is less clear. Despite some positive movements in the economy
and some progression in the number of plants in the
countr y, Pedro Espinosa asserted that it is difficult to predict the future, especially considering certain brands and designs. However, he did re- iterate the importance of smaller retreaders, “defending their quality and their brand, as well as their providers and suppliers,” which will go a long way to guaranteeing the survival of smaller Spanish retreaders. On the casing issue in Spain, he said, “it’s more of a global issue rather than one that is particular to Spain.” This uncertainty is probably indicative of the uncertainty surrounding the overall economic situation at a Spanish and EU level. For AER and the Spanish retread industr y in general, Espinosa is now be hoping that Spain will continue to recover in 2016.
in combination with a GDP growth rate that was steadily in arrears from January 2011 through to July 2013, hovering around the -0.6 per cent mark. At that point, the retread sector, with a fall somewhere in the region of 10 per cent, had not crashed in the same way as the economy in general, and Espinosa had asserted that once the economy started to recover, the retread sector would follow suit. We returned to their Madrid offices for an update on the current retread situation in Spain and to see how the landscape had shifted since our last encounter.
The retread sector was initially affected by the fall of the
Spain, like other areas in Europe, had seen a consolidation in the number of retreaders with 39 active retreaders back in 2012. This trend continued post 2012, hitting a low of 29 in 2014. However, this consolidation, according to Espinosa, has now stopped, supported by an increase to 31 plants by the end of last year. This trend matched a slight up-turn in the country’s economic fortunes with a GDP growth rate of approximately 0.87 per cent over 2015 and reductions in overall and youth unemployment, suggesting that, in line with Espinosa’s prediction, the retread sector is
32 Retreading Business
of