Page 33 - RB-80-17-1

RUSSIA
enough used tyres, but the important thing is that LLP Polven will need to test each of them. Arne Solvak, head of used tyre collecting company Rehviringlus, explains. “Estonian people are not very wealthy and they use tyres until there are holes in them, while bad roads are also contributing to the poor quality of casings. However, we believe that the company can get enough casings in the domestic market.”
Poluyanenkov says that LLP Polven has been initially established as an auto-service centre, and the
company’s experience in this area clearly indicates that there are car owners who change tyres in good time and do not overuse them. As a result, it is believed that Estonia could also offer good casings for the company.
Poluyanenkov also disclosed that there are numerous auto-service centres across the country, which are working with car-owners, and LLP Polven is aiming to interact with them in order to establish a viable casing collecting system within the
c o u n t r y.
RK-Reifen Reveals Peculiarity of Russia’s Market
faultlessly.
“Our company was organised by my partner and myself, when we knew nothing about tyres, except the fact that they are round and made of rubber,” Kutolkin says.
“After receiving some proposals on equipment and materials, we decided to travel to China, where we visited six facilities, after which we chose one plant, which was retreading tyres, including OTR tyres, and also producing equipment and materials itself. We purchased the line and brought it into Russia,” Kutolkin adds.
The new Bandag line originally has been imported in Russia from Australia, firstly to the Far Eastern
part of the country, where it operated for 3-4 years. According to Kutolkin the main target of modernisation lied in the improvement of production performance, because in replacing the line, RK-Reifen has increased total plant capacity nearly threefold, also obtaining a higher degree of production process automation, in particular thanks to a large capacity autoclave.
Lack of casings is the main sticking-point
Like almost all other Russian retreaders RK-Reifen complains about the lack of quality casings in
Russia’s retreading market is under the influence of numerous factors, including currency fluctuations, reputation challenges, the inflow of cheap Chinese products and governmental anti-dumping duties against them, but in general it has growth potential, Viktor Kutolkin, Commercial Director of RK-Reifen, the well-known retreading company from Moscow Oblast, suggests.
The company’s faith in the market’s
future is evidenced by the large- scale modernisation RK-Reifen has recently passed through. In 2016 it sold its Chinese-manufactured retreading line, replacing it with a Bandag line manufactured in 2004- 2006. According to Kutolkin, the company originally bought the Chinese equipment back in 2011, when RK-Reifen was only recently established, and through these years the line in fact was operating
Sowing the seeds for tomorrows industry
Dedicated to technological leadership in the development and production of high quality rubber compounds.

customer processes to arrive at high quality solutions at the best cost for markets covering

Call +44 (0)1594 842 224 or email clive.rickards@hexpol.com