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KAZAKHSTAN/RUSSIA
services at all. However, this is not the biggest problem the company has to deal with.
“The biggest problem is the lack of casings. The owners run a tyre until it is completely worn down. However, there are several major companies that are working in a different way, but they instead are re-selling these old tyres at 40 per cent of their
initial price. For example, the price per Chinese tyre 385/65 R22,5 is $300, while the used tyre with the tread layer from 3 to 6 mm could be bought for $120-140”, he estimated. “For us, it is not justifiable to purchase casings at this price. This is the main reason, why there is a shortage of casings on the market. We are collecting casings through the recycling facilities, logistics companies, bus fleets as well as from private customers. Still, we retread only 10-15 per cent of our casings, and we primarily work with the clients’ own casings,” Kaziev said.
At the same time, the oversupply of Chinese tyres is really noticeable in Kazakhstan, especially in Almaty, according to Kaziev. Chinese importers set the price for tyres 315/70 R22.5, 315/60 R22.5, 315/80 R22.5 at around $280, so Green Tyre has to sell its retreaded tyres at $150- 170 per unit, in order to keep clients. As the result, the company remains profitable, but has to operate with only a minimal margin.
“In general, I would not say that it is comfortable to retread tyres in Kazakhstan. However, this could change in 2-3 years from now. I think that the public perception of retreaded tyres will change in the years to come. At least, we are constantly working on that in our region. The fact that the same clients are coming for repeat orders again and again speaks for itself,” Kaziev said. In terms of the raw materials, Green Tyre is working with Bandamatic imported from Mexico, R-Stone from China, Nokian from Finland and Veguma from Estonia. “We prefer to provide our customers with a choice. If the client wants high quality, an annual guarantee and is ready to pay for it, then we will give him such an option. If a client wants an economy option, he gets it as well. There are different situations. For example, sanitation trucks that visit a garbage dump every day can damage the tyre and cause damage to the tyre making them unrepairable. For such clients we would not recommend premium tread from Nokian
with a mileage of above 200,000
km. On the other hand for trucks operating on highways the
premium treads from Nokian would be the best option,” he said.
A side business
The history is quite different for PKK Sactagan, another retreader from Almaty. The company is primarily specialising in the assembly of trailers, semi-trailers, trucks, as well as the technical inspection of vehicles. The tyre retreading operation was created just as a side business for the company. It retreads tyres for its own fleet, plus for some customers according to the information on its website.
PKK Sactagan is running a Bandag retreading line and sells truck tyres at $200-250 per unit with an expected mileage of around 180,000 km. Just like all other retreaders in the post- Soviet space, the company is putting a lot of effort to explain to the customers that they can save a lot of money with the right management of their tyres.
For comparison, PKK Sactagan is cooperating with one of the largest transport companies in Kazakhstan; AO Trans-Leasing. With a fleet of
120 trucks, this company, on average, is spending $150,000 on tyres. Nearly half of those tyres were retreaded at least once, so Trans- Leasing saves around $50,000 by using retreaded tyres, PKK Sactagan estimated.
When several years ago, PKK Sactagan launched its retreading line, following the advice of its European partners, the company was giving warranty for the whole tyre. However, soon enough it turned out that this approach would not work. “Everybody knows that conditions in which trucks are operating in Kazakhstan are far from European. This is about the constant overload, the bad road quality and poor attitude of drivers and technical staff. Given this, we had to adjust our marketing strategy, and now we are only giving warranty on our tread,” PKK Sactagan informed.
“The bad quality of our roads and the lack of experience of the technical staff results in huge losses to the transport companies. Under the right management, with the timely repair, with pressure monitoring and so on, these companies could cut their costs by 30-40 per cent,” the company added.
PKK Sactagan is cooperating with Bandag on the basis of its quality. According to the company, Bandag is offering the most up-to-date tread patterns, and this is very important for Kazakhstan roads, especially when it comes to safety issues. Speaking about the casings, PKK Sactagan’s management stressed that it is able to deal with the casings of all European suppliers. The company is cooperating with many transport companies, retreading almost 100 per cent of its clients’ casings.
Tatneft Makes Progress Retreading Kama Tyres
Kama Retread, a subsidiary of the Kazan-based manufacture Kama Tyres, for the first time, has retreaded the casing of a Kama tyre for the second time. This approach, when the same tyre is being retreaded more than once, is about to become common in the foreseeable future in Russia and should increase the maximum mileage of Kama tyres to 700,000 km.
The company has recently retreaded several tyres that were used on MAN trucks by a transport
company from Uralsk, Kazakhstan, according to Andrey Buton, the deputy director of Kama Tyres. The tyres had run for already 240,000 km by the time they were taken off and delivered to the retreading plant for the first time, he said.
Upon the second retreading cycle they had already run for 433,000 km, Buton revealed. As of today, these tyres have a total mileage of around 573,000 km, and there are no problems with their use, so they could serve for at least another
Kama Retread is retreading tyres with sizes ranging from R22.5 to R24. The designed production capacity of the plant with the retreading line supplied by Marangoni in 2015 is believed to be around 36,000 tyres per year and this level was a figure to be achieved in 2017. This figure makes Kama Retread one of the largest retreaders in Russia in terms of production quantities, although the company has never revealed how many retreaded tyres it has actually released over the past two years. Like all European manufacturers, Kama Tyres has now laid down the possibility to retread its tyres more than once.
“The increased firmness of Kama tyres is provided by the metal construction of not only the belt, but also the structure. That’s why these tyres are the best choice for any type of cargo and passenger transportation. Retreadability is assured by the structure of the Kama tyres,”
according to the company.
100,000 km, according to the company. This is the first time that Kama Tyres, a subsidiary of the Russian major oil producer Tatneft, has had its tyres retreaded more than once. In general, Kama Retread offers retreading on its casing with costs that saves 55 per cent on the price of a new tyre, Buton revealed. The company is cooperating with the major Russian transport companies, and is also supplying tyres under contract with the Russian leading truck manufacturer Kamaz. The tests, conducted by Kama, showed that the technical parameters of the tyres retreaded on Kama casings basically are the same as compared to new tyres, including in terms of road adherence and the fuel consumption rates.
Buton added that Kama sees a gradual growth in demand for retreaded tyres in the local market. According to him, a growing number of transport companies in Russia are estimating their costs and assessing the economic benefit from the use of retreaded tyres.
It is believed that Kama Retread is focusing primarily on the retreading of Kama tyres. However, according to Buton, the company can also accept from its customers used truck tyres of other brands for retreading.
62 Retreading Business