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RUSSIA
Russian Coal Industry Eyes Self-Sufficiency in Retreaded Tyres
different experience, including negative. But the technologies, raw materials quality, and approaches changed a lot, so now a growing number of companies opt for retreaded tyres," Mukhlisov said, adding that he is confident that the future belongs to retreaded tyres in Russia.
Kama Retread is one of the few companies in the Russian retreading industry selling its products through its online store. The company also accepts casings direct from
Mukhlisov said, adding that there are nearly two dozen retreaders in Russia and only two companies are established on the basis of tyre companies.
Extended guarantee
The company is also putting a lot of effort into ensuring high- quality of production. All casings are subjected to four stages of incoming inspection, including shearography and one post-retreading inspection, Mukhlisov said.
Kemerovo-based company Global Eco plans to establish a new tyre retreading plant in the Kuznetsk coal basin, commonly known as Kuzbass, in East Siberia, among others aiming to retread tyres for coal miners. Kuzbass is one of the world's largest producing coalfields. Local mines produce nearly 300 million tonnes of coal in the world, employing tens of thousands of trucks to transport these quantities. So far, there is no single retreading plant in the region, said Kirill Vorobiev, owner of Global Eco. Russian coal miners are using retreaded tyres, but only imported ones, Vorobiev said. The market is bottomless because of the peculiarities of the local tyre market.
"We have companies whose trucks run for only a week before they need to retread or dispose of their tyres. The market is ver y interesting and large, and we can safely say that we would experience no problems with demand, given that a retreaded tyre provides similar mileage to a new one, at half price," Vorobiev said.
The main problem most Russian retreaders have to deal with is a lack of high-quality casings. Only 5% to 7% of used tyres in the country eventually land at retreading plants, as most used tyres have such poor
technical conditions. According to Vorobiev, Global Eco should not face any shortage of casings.
The investment cost of the project is Rub63 million ($1 million). The new plant will be able to retread up to 14,400 tyres per year, ranging from 14 to 24.5 inches. The R22.5 tyres should be in the highest demand. Preliminar y estimates show that the payback period on the project will be limited to only four years, Vorobiev said. Global Eco plans to install Italian equipment at its new plant.
"The Italian [partners] have offered us remote control technology. This means that they can fix it from Italy if we have any failure," Vorobiev added.
The regional authorities have already supported the project, Mikhail Shulman, spokesperson for the local government said during a press-conference late 2019. The plant should be built at the so-called territory of priority development in Kuzbass, which means it could take advantage of various state support forms. In Russia, regional authorities grant residency in the territories of priority development only to businesses that are considered important for the local economies.
customers and collects casings via the Kama Trade House. In total, 70% of tyres sold in Russia under K ama brands are good enough for retreading, Mukhlisov said.
The company is also working on expanding its order book by signing new contracts with Russian transport companies. "For example, at the end of 2018, we passed a few batches of Kama Retread's retreaded tyres to a major federal transport carrier for field trials. In early September, we have got our tyres with a residual tread layer of 3 mm. The results were even beyond our expectations since the tyres served for 280,799 km thanks to both high-quality retreading and tyre operation control by the transport company," Mukhlisov said.
"Potentially, the tyre retreading segment in Russia is a very promising niche, since the country's territory is huge and logistics is an important part of the national economy,"
K ama Retread is confident in its tyres, so it gives a two-year warranty on all retreaded tyres. The company is now considering extending it to five years on the premium K ama PRO casings, according to Mukhlisov. This could be the most extended warranty time on retreaded tyres offered in Russia.
Kama to Launch
Own Tread Production
One of the largest Russian tyre retreaders, Kama Retread, is aiming to launch its own tread production facilty and begin using its own treads in 2021, Rustem Mukhlisov, acting general director of Kama Retread told local publication Kolesa.
"One of our priority targets is to retread casings of our own brands using our own treads. Currently, we use treads strips from our partners - Marangoni SpA. – which are different from
those designed for Kama and Kama Pro," Mukhlisov said. Kama Pro is a new premium product developed by the Russian tyre manufacturer Kama – the parent company of Kama Retread. The tyre’s average mileage is 300,000 km, and it can be retreaded up to two times, according to Mukhlisov.
"The Russian retreading market began forming 20 years ago. Quite a few companies have tried these tyres and have a
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