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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Surender Singh Kandhari, Chairman, Al Dobowi Group
Emirates Transport is also considering a foray into conventional retreading, considering the UAE market’s shift towards traditional hot retreading. “We are aware of the market trend towards hot retreading and are considering starting at our site, but until then we may tie-up with a local player to serve us on contract basis,” Pramod emphasised.
The company imports tread rubber from Maxrubber, Malaysia and Vipal, Brazil.
In order to meet the rising production, ET has installed a 12 tyre autoclave along with buffing and building machines procured from Maxrubber in 2018. Meanwhile, the company says it may consider opening a new retread site in the next couple of years. Once current the site is retreading 2,500 tyres each month, the company says it is likely to relocate to a newer and bigger location as there are capacity constraints at the current location.
Al Dobowi Discontinues Bandag Operation, Switches to Indian Rubber
shift to alternative rubber suppliers was never an issue as Al Dobowi has the best retread plant and equipment in the UAE,” he added. Bandag’s loss has been to the benefit of Indian-manufactured rubber, which continues to hold sway in the UAE market. “We are now sourcing tread rubber from Bengaluru based Bremels Rubber Industries. They supply us with customised product produced as per our specs,” explained Kandhari.
The shift towards Indian rubber has brought profitability to the Al Dobowi retread business, according to Singh. “We have now started making some money from the retread business, whereas the
Bandag operation was making losses,” he conceded.
The Jebel Ali plant is now back to normal and is retreading 2,000 tyres each month. Al Dobowi says it has found that Bremels has the quality that matches with their retreading standards and offers all guarantees and warranties as used to be the case with the Bandag system.
Commenting on the prevailing market conditions, Kandhari stated, “Unless new tyre prices go up, retreaders will continue to lose money in the UAE market. People are no longer making money in the retreading business as the price gap between new Chinese tyres and retreads is abysmally low.”
United Arab Emirates’ largest retreader Al Dobowi, has made a major shift in its operation, located at the Jebel Ali Free Zone. The company has finally bowed to the increasing price-sensitivity of the UAE retread market and stopped its Bandag operation.
The company admits it was a hard decision but argues that it was difficult to persevere with one of the most expensive retread systems in the business in the Middle East’s biggest retread market.
“It was too expensive to offer Bandag retreads considering the prevailing market conditions in the UAE,” admitted Surender Singh Kandhari, Chairman, Al Dobowi Group.
The separation from Bandag happened in November 2018, and the retread site has promptly shifted to a new system. “We are now running the operation on our own as per the best business practices with quality remaining the mainstay,” said Kandhari. “The