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VIETNAM
There are around 13-14 retreaders in Vietnam
Vietnamese Retread
Market Set to Benefit
from Highway Construction
such as cushion gum and machinery from local markets such as Malaysia, China or Indonesia. A prime example of this is through Toan Tah who exclusively use Chinese equipment as another method to increase their competiveness.
With laws in Vietnam prohibiting retreads being utilised on buses, most
clients are unsurprisingly individual truck owners,
and with no retread
association in Vietnam,
this undoubtedly makes it difficult for the industry
to promote itself and
lobby for regulatory changes. This has meant that there is lots of individual work done by individuals to promote
much lower, meaning in general it’s the sidewalls that are damaged more rather than the treads themselves.”
“This has resulted in retreaders commonly cutting the tread from old tyres and re-using them in the retreading process as a means to stay competitive and reduce their own prices whilst maintaining profitability.” Regarding other materials, accessories and equipment, the market imports a lot of resources
retreading. Suffice to say its quite a hard market. However, that does not mean that the main players in
Lots of retreaders in Vietnam use tread cut from old tyres to re-use in the manufacturing process
Historically, the Vietnamese Retread market has been an underdeveloped and immature industry, but with the ongoing development of a highway joining the north and south of the country, players in the industry are hopeful of seeing growth.
In our visit to Vietnam, Mr TH Yew, the Director General of Ho- Com Rubber Technology Co., Ltd outlined that currently there are about 13-14 retreaders in the market and these players are spread around the country, with approximately five operating outside of Ho-Chi Minh City (Saigon).
However, as would be expected in an under-developed market, lots of these retreaders are not very well established and relatively recent entrants into the market.
During our interviews with Ho- Com, Asia Retread and Toan Tah, one of the curious trends we discovered was the use of old tread in the retreading process. Mr Yew put some meat on the bones for us, “due to the price of cheap Chinese tyres, a good way for Vietnamese retreaders to stay competitive is through the practice of cutting tread from older tyres.”
You may be thinking at this point, “Why?” Yew went on, “In Vietnam the quality of our highways is very poor, but the speed transport travels at is