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MOSCOW TIRES & RUBBER
commissioning of plants and several projects already commissioned including plants of Continental, Bridgestone, Michelin and a number of others,” he added.
This also has been confirmed by
presenting their newest products. Mesnac in particular presented their YLS2-1327 Tyre Shearography checking machine, FJ-D225 nail hope inspector, FM-Z225 full automatic tyre buffing machine, FPT-
“The exchange rate of the Russian ruble has brought serious problems to everyone, but we may take advantage of the current situation and Chinese suppliers of equipment to Russia are already today considering different options in this direction, in particular to conclude deals in yuan and rubles without tightening it to the dollar and euro,” Pohanka says.
According to him, Chinese companies may really succeed in the Russian market within the coming years, as amid the crisis Russian retreading companies are looking very carefully to the production costs, while on average the price for Chinese retreading machines is at least 30% lower than those of their European counterparts.
“We are participating in this Expo for the second time in a row and we see that the current economic situation is not allowing our potential customers to achieve serious development of the retreading business. However, we have a
real advantage as our plant is
located in China, so we may
really offer competitive products
to local customers,” Pohanka
says.
However, representatives of the company indicated that to
succeed in Russia Mesnac still
need to overcome some
prejudices as a large number of Russian companies still consider Chinese equipment to be not
very reliable and are afraid that
in case of failure they will not be
able to find spare parts or
people who will repair the machinery.
Europeans are not going to give up
At the same time, it is clear that European companies are not
going to abandon the
development at the Russian
market. Representatives of Saspol and Troester indicate that they are participating in the Expo and will continue to do in the future, as they not afraid of competition, neither from the Chinese, nor from local companies.
At the Expo Saspol offered potential customers their upstroke oleodynamic press T2G 3000 with total clamping force of 3000 tonnes, with ‘2C’ framed, composed of 10 open frames, with 9 hot platens and 8 daylights for the production and vulcanisation of treads.
According to Davide Dondena, the installation includes a let-off, an automatic loading carpet with conveyor belts and spray units, cooling stands, an automatic unloading carpet, an hydraulic power pack positioned in a pit, suction hoods, an operator desk and
electrical cabinets. The whole working area is surrounded by a series of protection fences with doors for the access.
Dondena stated that at the moment Saspol is set to deliver all retreading equipment for the Russian customers from Italy, but in the future with the possible strong growth in demand in the post Soviet Union space it may even consider localisation of the production cycle inside the country with the opening of capacity for production of equipment there. “This is possible, as we need to find people, who would be able to conduct business here. We need to solve a number of other issues, but in general this could be good idea and in the future the opening of some capacity here would also become an option for the development of our business in the country. However, this will be depend on numerous factors,” Dondena concluded.
At the same time Roman Renz stated
Davide Dondena believes in bright prospects of Russian retreading market
Davide Dondena, as according to him, his company may benefit from possible retreading projects of Pirelli. “Pirelli in Russia has launched two plants, one in Kirov and another one in Krasnoyarsk, and as we supply machinery for Pirelli we know that Pirelli in Russia wants to start the production of retreaded tyres at its facilities in the country. We believe this could be an important opportunity for Saspol in terms of the delivery of retreading machines,” he stated.
“At the same time, we are working on the expansion of co-operation not only with the biggest, but also with the smaller companies. We design equipment in accordance to the customer needs, so it is absolutely not a problem for us to expand cooperation with the smaller Russian plants” - Dondena added.
Good Opportunities for Chinese companies
At the Expo foreign suppliers of retreading equipment were
450 tyre painter and many other products.
However, as explained Peter Meng, sales assistant of the company for the EMEA region, so far most sales of retreading machinery of Mesnac takes place in the Asia-Pacific region, while Europe accounts for a very small share of overall sales. In Russia, Mesnac so far has not sold any equipment, but hopes to receive the first orders from local customers within the coming year.
“We already have our first request from one Russian producer, Central Tyre, for the relevant equipment, so in general we believe that market forecasts are bright, especially given the huge size of Russian tyre market and small share of retreaded tyres,” Július Pohanka explained.
He also suggested that the recent devaluation of the Russian ruble has hardly affected sales of foreign retreading machinery in Russia, and brought some new opportunities to Chinese manufacturers, as they now have the chance to replace European equipment in the Russian retreading industry.
that it is unlikely that his company will really conduct the localisation of production capacity in Russia, as Troester’s business philosophy provides for the accumulation of production in Hanover, Germany. He stated that his company has a small assembly line in China, but in the foreseeable future a similar facility probably will not be opened in Russia.
“In general, we have positive thinking on prospects in Russia. Right now everyone here, including business, [equipment] suppliers and authorities need to find some sort of new solutions to make business in a comfortable way, but in general the doors are open and we have all necessary possibilities in the local market,” Renz concluded.
Roman Renz (left) and Laurent Dinz (right) still believe in some prospects of Russian retreading amid efforts of large companies
Peter Meng and Julist Pohanka say Chinese suppliers of retreading machinery can take advantage of the current market conjuncture and weak ruble
50 Retreading Business