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INTERVIEW
Interview: Michael Schwaemmlein - BRV: Unlocking the Potential for Retreaders in Europe
In July, we had the opportunity to speak to Michael Schwämmlein, the Technical Director of the BRV, the trade association representing the interests of retreaders in Germany. We spoke about the current health of
the market and asked some intriguing questions about labelling, legislation and the current direction of BIPAVER.
We started,
naturally, with
discussing the
Covid-19’s effect
on business.
Schwämmlein
mentioned that
Germany fared
better overall with
the restrictions
caused by
lockdown,
mentioning that the eastern and southern parts of Europe had a far more severe shutdown. Schwämmlein then emphasised that communicating the legal ramifications of the lockdown to BRV members helped maintain the status quo. The result of this protected the vast majority of retreaders and retread suppliers from closing operations, although some industry segments, such as the car and chemical industry were severely affected, “apart from delivering disinfectants and solvents.” More heavily affected
was the freight sector which saw a significant reduction in journeys, causing reduced demand for TBR tyres, something Schwämmlein doesn’t see improving until Autumn, especially as the
mentioned that the origin of the anti-dumping action was the sum of all the European tyre industry, due to the sheer number of requirements needed to investigate bad business practises. The ensuing
result of this was that China relocated their factories outside of China, whilst imports from non-EU countries, prominently in South East Asia, increased by 1.5 million tyres. Overall, the market is estimated to
reduce by around 12- 15% this year.
With regards to anti- dumping and anti- subsidy actions, the retreading sector is not in a position to intervene on its own to combat other countries that are offering prices close to China’s before the anti-dumping, Schwämmlein suggests, and feels the industr y would be better advised to cast an eye to the future and concentrate “on the Green Deal and circular economy requirements. This
would need to be supported, however, within politics as well as within public procurement, only “the prejudices against retreads which are still existing in relation to rolling resistance against mileage capability and safety performance have to be removed” - so those minimum requirements will become more important over time.
This is something that Schwämmlein concedes will naturally incur costs for companies, however, as he points out, there is no other way around it. If retreads want to keep up with new tyres,
www.schmidt.ind.br comercial@schmidt.ind.br 00 55 (51) 3587.3636 Brazil - RS
technical full suport
maintenance and revitalization
government support scheme for the sector has used its budget for this year. Schwämmlein is optimistic however as, “the sell-out estimates for retreads from January-May, 2020 is only between minus 6-10%” whereas for new tyres it is “even more severe, between 8- 10%” indicating that the retreading sector, “might be less affected than new tyres in the long run.”
Anti-dumping legislation within Europe was another key topic, especially how best to counteract unfair competition from the east. Schwämmlein
investigation has clearly been successful, as Schwämmlein notes, “the figures of the TBR tyre imports from China went down about 4-6 million, which was about the peak of the imports, and went down to far less than 1.1 million in 2019,” whilst the demand of TBR was around 4.3-4 million in 2018, an increase of around 150,000 compared to 2016. In 2018 the European market share increased from 22% to 25%, whilst in 2019 the Asian market share reduced by 6.5%, whilst the European share stayed strong at 26%. The
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