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KAZAKHSTAN
Kazakhstan Retreading Industry Continues to Develop
K azakhstan is the largest of the Asian countries to emerge from the remains of the Soviet Union with 2.8 million square km of territory and almost 18 million citizens. However, for some reason, the country accounts for one of the most under-developed retreading industries in the region, since according to official information provided by the country’s statistical agencies, Kazakhstan annually imports 122,000 truck tyres, with only 3 per cent of this figure being sent for retreading.
This puts the overall volume of production of retreaded tyres in the country at only 4–5,000 tyres per annum. However, this situation may change as some projects now are receiving important state support. As long as government officials finally realise the benefits of retreading, this may give hope for other companies in the industry to get similar help in the future.
Successful start-up
Retread Almaty was launched in 2013 with the participation of the state-owned Entrepreneurship Development Fund ‘Damu’. The organisation has purchased equipment to
conduct retreading in accordance with Bandag technology using materials of Vipal (Brazil), Rekor (Turkey), Kraiburg (Austria), Galgo (Mexico) and Regum Tread (Poland), according to official information from the company’s web-site.
According to the General Director of Retread Almaty Nurzhan Abilkairov, his facility
conducts retreading of truck and bus tyres using the casings of Michelin, Dunlop, Goodyear, Continental, Toyo and Bridgestone. The cost of new retreaded tyres, according to him, is 30 per cent of the price for new European tyre and 60 per cent of that of Chinese tyres.
His company is working with sizes R 22.5: 295/80 R 22.5,
315/70 R 22.5, 315/80 R 22.5 and the very popular 385/65 R 22.5. The plant of Retread Almaty, located near the country’s industrial centre Alma-Ata, started full-scale operation in 2015, and conducted the retreading of 1,000 tyres last year. However, this year the situation has significantly changed for the company, as, according to Nurzhan Abilkairov, Retread Almaty received its largest order from state authorities in the history of the country’s industr y.
“Last year Retread Almaty received a major order, as it started servicing the municipal fleets of Alma-Ata public transport with nearly 600 buses and 200 trolley buses, with an annual demand of 2,000 retreads. We are pleased that in these difficult times the state supports our business, on the one hand, guaranteeing a soft loan, on the other hand, providing the work. However, even with such a large order the plant is not yet fully loaded, since the existing capacities would allow us to conduct the retreading of about 5,000 tyres per year,” Abilkairov explains.
The new order will most likely account for nearly 60 per cent
48 Retreading Business