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INDIA
Asian Multitech to Start Making Precured Tread
natural rubber prices, but new tyre makers have reduced prices to combat the cheap brands.
“Volumes of the retreading industry will only improve if the Chinese tyre prices increase. Retreaders can only survive if some money could be made out of running the plant,” he said. Perfect retreads Chinese casings also but finds them too weak to hold 12- 13 kg of tread rubber after retreading. They could hold up to 9 kg of rubber,
but this is not considered strong enough to use on Indian roads considering the drivers’ tendency to overloading.
With increasing competition in TBR and LCV tyre retreading, Perfect plans to get into OTR retreading shortly. “We are positively getting into OTR retreading and plan to install a hot process chamber at our Kolkata plant in the next quarter,” Shah confirmed.
Daljit Singh of Asian Multitech at Tyrexpo India in Delhi
Asian Multitech currently manufactures around 30 tonnes of conventional tread per month and caters mainly to the Western and Central Indian states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. ‘We have a good product and a stable market in these states,’ Singh said.
The company plans to produce precure rubber for TBR applications at similar quantity levels to its conventional tread production, and will initially promote precure rubber among existing clientele in the domestic market. “The market is in bad shape. Therefore, we will focus on our existing customer base in the Central and Western states,” Singh added.
Asian Multitech has its origins in the textile business and originally forayed into tread rubber manufacturing in the year 2000. It also has plans to expand beyond national borders. “We consider ourselves new to the rubber industry and are trying to understand the domestic market, which is highly unorganised, before venturing into the exports market,” he clarified.
Poddar Treads to Double Tread Rubber Production
The Gujarat based manufacturer of tyre retreading material Asian Multitech has announced that it is to expand into the production of precure tread. Currently, the company only produces conventional tread but has ordered the necessary equipment for an expansion at its plant in Ahmedabad.
“We will start making precure tread rubber in the next quarter. We are buying a new press of domestic manufacture,” said Daljit Singh of Asian Multitech at Tyrexpo India 2016.
Delhi headquartered Poddar Treads is aiming to double its tread production in 2016-17. The expansion of production capabilities is on the strength of key orders secured by the tread maker from the state transport companies recently. Currently, its plants in Northern India are producing 150 metric tonnes of
per cent share of the Northern Indian market for retread rubber and 4 per cent nationwide.
Poddar is also looking to expand its position in exports market in a big way. Currently, it merely exports to the neighbouring Himalayan country Nepal. “We are working on starting exports to all the SAARC countries,
besides UAE in the Middle East. We are sending the first shipment to UAE next month,” Chouhan said at an interaction at Tyrexpo India recently. The company was participating at the annual show organised at New Delhi in mid-June.
It has six plants, one in Kalamb (Himachal Pradesh), two in
Sonipat (Haryana) and three in Delhi manufacturing retreading and repair materials. With the expanding automobile market in India, Poddar says it will also soon foray into tyre manufacturing. “The tyre manufacturing plant is under construction in Sonepat and is likely to be operational by October this year,” he said.
Kalamb is the biggest of the tread rubber manufacturer’s plants, established in 2004 and producing 80 tonnes each month. The oldest plant is in Delhi, while Kalamb is the latest one. The company supplies retreading material to 1,200 retreaders and has 100 distributors all over the country.
The firm has been one of the winners of the Top 100 SME of India Award in 2016 by the India SME (Small & Medium Enterprise) Forum.
Vijendra Singh Chouhan, Sr Sales Manager, Poddar Tyres and Rubber
Perfect to Install Hot Process for OTR retreading
The import of low cost tyres from the across the border has played havoc with the domestic retreading industry in India. The impact of almost unknown imported brands on the Indian retreading industry has been clearly reflected on the low volumes in a market where retreading has taken firm ground and is still picking- up despite all challenges. The
Perfect Tyres Pvt Ltd is upset by the way volumes are going down and margins are being squeezed. “We used to retread 600 tyres every month until last year, but the production has gone down to 450 tyres each month. Our production is down by almost 25 per cent from last year due to the presence of Chinese tyres,” said Devvrat Shah, Director,
Perfect Tyres Pvt Ltd. The Bengal based retreader is of the view that, unless government takes measures like imposing anti- dumping duty on the import of Chinese tyres, the situation will not be improved and may even harm the industry irreparably.
“Due to the presence of cheap imported tyres, the Indian tyre
makers have also lowered their new tyre prices and this is directly harming the prospects of the retreading sector,” said Shah. Interestingly, tread rubber prices have increased due to the hardening of
precure tread and 100 metric tonnes of conventional rubber each month. It also manufactures cushion/bonding gum, cord fabric, vulcanising cement, masterbatch compound and a range of patches.
“We have won long time orders from two major state transport undertakings for the supply of precure as well as conventional tread and that would lead us to double production,” said Vijendra Singh Chouhan, Sr Sales Manager, Poddar Tyres and Rubber. Post expansion, the precure production is expected to touch 300 tonnes and conventional rubber production 200 tonnes per month.
State transport undertakings consume the lion’s share of Poddar tread rubber production. Its clients include some of the biggest state owned transport companies like Punjab Roadways, Patiala Roadways, Haryana Roadways, UPSRTC, Maharashtra State Roadways Corporations etc. Currently, Poddar claims to have a 15
Devvrat Shah, Director, Perfect Tyres Pvt Ltd
retreaders are looking for ways to cut the production cost and they are now finding a way forward by trying new ideas to sustain themselves in the competitive business scenario. Kolkata based Treadsdirect franchisee
64 Retreading Business