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LATIN AMERICA EXPO
Lenny Martinez of Hules Banda
Kargro Enjoys Strong Popularity in Latin America
the trade issues with China. In the U.S. because of what’s going on with the tariffs and the taxes, the price for new Chinese tyres keeps going up. This is resulting in the retreading industry picking up again,” Martinez said.
The regulatory changes in the U.S. have had a sudden effect on the neighbouring markets, where now it seems there are more Chinese tyres than ever.
“The Asian tyre suppliers now have to find some new markets for their products. This is because of the share they are losing on the U.S. tyre market. And what they are doing now is that they are hitting hard Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America and Europe as well. Europe is a little
bit different because of the new rules and regulations, so it is not as open as Latin America,” Martinez explained.
The retreading market in the region these days is price-ridden, which means that it is all about the prices now, he stressed.
“You know, here you can buy a
new Chinese tyres for $110. That’s an average price in Latin America, while in the U.S. it is around $130 and this makes much more sense, because now you can buy a casing for $100. So, this is how the U.S. market is looking right now, with the President that we have. We are fighting with the Chinese imports with new taxes, not just on tyres, but on numerous different products. However, these changes affect also Latin America,”
Martinez said.
According to Martinez, for the companies in the retreading industry in Latin America the market has become more sophisticated, as they need to compete in the worsening conditions. This affects everyone including not only the retreading plants, but also casing and consumables suppliers, and there are no signs that some changes in the region may be in the pipeline.
“Shows like Latin Tyre Expo bring good opportunities to consolidate your order book in the region, by meeting existing customers and possibly some new ones,” said Kees-Jan Riemersma, sales director of Kargro.
“We have a set of customers in this region of the United States, South America, Central America, and we are here to meet them. It is easier to meet them here in the short period of time, instead of going back and forth from Holland to South America over and over again,” Riemersma said.
“That’s one thing, and the other thing is to meet some new customers, which we already did in
the first couple of hours of the event, so we are looking very optimistically into the future,” he added.
The company has evidenced some increase in demand for used tyres and casings of European quality in Latin America over the past several years.
“Our customers here, they are quite different. Some are asking for casings, while others are asking for used tyres. Our business is rather diversified, as we run our own truck tyre retreading plant in the Netherlands, and we are also engaged in tyre recycling,” Riemersma said.
Although, the tyres and casing need