Page 40 - RB-88-19-1

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Thomas Joseph, Regional Manager, Tolins Tyres LLC
RAK Managing Midas Distribution in the GCC
James Thomas, Managing Partner, RAK Tyre Retreading LLC
Ras Al Khaimah based RAK Tyre Retreading LLC operates hot and cold retreading operations besides managing the distribution network of Midas in the GCC market (Gulf Cooperation Council). RAK Tyre reports early indications of slight positivity in the GCC market. “The Gulf retread market is largely struggling but recently new queries for retread material sourcing started coming in from the GCC region,” admitted James Thomas, Managing Partner, RAK Tyre Retreading LLC.
He further hopes once petroleum prices have started firming up, the government will announce new projects and it this will bring back activity into the retreading industry. According to him, a few Government financed infrastructure projects are on the way and likely to be announced shortly.
RAK supplies Midas tread rubber and raw materials including patches, accessories, envelopes and tools to a select customer base in the GCC. “We are not supplying to distributors operating in the open market but prefer to cater to dedicated clients only,” he said.
RAK has managed the Midas distribution hub since 2004.
The company maintains a lean operation even during difficult times and hopes for a market revival in the near future. The plant retreads about 600 tyres each month by hot and precure processes. “With demand for hot retreading picking up, we installed four hot presses in 2012 along with one 8-tyre autoclave already operational from the beginning,” James Thomas stated. The company remains dedicated to Midas tread in the UAE market. On the question of the solution to the problem of Chinese tyres, he replied, “Currently, the UAE market has merely 10% Japanese casings and almost 90% Chinese casings, if the supply of Japanese casings improves, there will be more demand in the retreading sector.”
It has been observed that customers have increased demand for Japanese casings, but these are difficult to find in a market overwhelmingly controlled by the Chinese tyres. “Japanese tyres are the only saviour of retreading in this market,” he emphasised.
Ras Al Khaimah site operates as our base to serve the markets of UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia, selling all our products including tyres,” informed Thomas Joseph, Regional Manager, Tolins Tyres LLC.
Precure tread rubber and raw material for the production of camelback comes from India, but the plant carries out mixing and extrusion for the local market.
It has been observed that the permanent manufacturing base in the UAE has helped Tolins to establish its presence in the precure and camelback supplies. Now almost every retread site in the UAE is sourcing at least some
of precure tread have dropped by half to about 480 tons,” he added. “Demand for precure rubber has dropped after the authorities started penalising fleets operating on precured retreads.
Tolins supplies about 40 tons of precured tread each month in the UAE market besides some quantity to two sites based in Bahrain. Demand for bonding gum has also reduced to 15-20 tons from 30-35 tons per month about three years ago.
On opening new markets in the Middle East, Thomas revealed, “We will start hot rubber supplies to a new site coming up in the Lebanese capital Beirut from
Inside the Tolins plant in Ras Al Khaimah
Tolins Continues to Expand in the Middle East
product from Tolins. The company’s production comes in handy especially when there is a shortage of tread, as Tolins is the only manufacturer producing in the UAE, and most of the industry is based on Indian rubber imports. With the surge in camelback demand, production of hot rubber is increasing. “We are producing about 360 tonnes of camelback and growing at about 10% annually,” admitted Thomas Joseph.
However, if the production of camelback increasing, demand for precure tread is going down. “Sales
February onwards. It takes almost 50 days to supply from the Indian plant, so the Ras Al Khaimah plant caters to the Lebanese market.”
It seems the UAE plant will also expand its presence in the neighboring Saudi market in the days to come as it is another big retread market where demand for hot rubber is firming up.
The UAE site also operates as Tolins’ warehouse for supplying LCV, two-wheeler and agriculture tyres to African markets like Congo, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Opportunities in the tough market scenario prevalent in the UAE retread sector are not easy to find. However, sensing an opportunity in the supply of hot rubber, Tolins has promptly grabbed it and now has a neat production operation in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, bordering Oman, about 140 km from Dubai.
The Kerala headquartered tread rubber producer expanded into tyre production in India a few years back and completed a 10,000 sq metre factory-cum- warehouse in 2015. The site began by making bonding gum and vulcanising solutions but later expanded by adding camelback and rubber strip production. “The
40 Retreading Business