Page 20 - Retrading Business N102 2022-03
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COUNTRY
REPORT - RUSSIA
expected to be close to 25,000 units in 2022. However, Delko
Nearly 80,000 highway trucks in Russia are above 12 years, which means they are needing to be replaced. The Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported citing market participants that the average cargo turnover per truck in Russia is low - less than 50,000 tonne-kilometres, because the fleet in the country is old. For example, in Turkey, this figure is believed to be close to 350,000 tonne-kilometres, while in Germany the figure is 1 million tonne-kilometres.
Whilst European supplies remain blocked, Russian customers hope for a rise in Chinese highway truck imports. Leningrad Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that by the end of the year, 10 new Chinese truck brands are expected to make a debut on the Russian market. However, so far no Chine- se companies have made any announcements on that matter.
CHINESE IMPORTS REBOUND
On the other hand, the current crisis promises to cause a hike in Chinese tyre imports to Russia. In the first half of 2022, Russia imported 10.9 million tyres, compared to 8.5 million during the same period of the previous year, the Russian market regulator CRPT said.
Tyre imports from China totalled 3.7 million tyres, 44.7% up com- - livered 760,000 tyres, minus 54% year-on-year, Japan – 500,000 tyres, minus 45%, Luxemburg – 336,000 tyres, minus 60%, and Germany 304,000 tyres, minus 42%, CRPT reported. During the past few months, Chinese companies have been increasing su-
“In theory, withdrawal of some brands, especially Michelin, would mean that less good casings would land on the market, but it depends on how many companies will actually leave and on what conditions, and it will take a few years to feel consequences pertaining to casing availability.”
pplies in all market segments, including truck and passenger tyres.
Several Russian retreaders complained that cheap Chinese tyre imports hindered their business before the Eurasia Economic Union introduced an anti-dumping duty against Chinese tyres in 2016. In the past several years, Chinese tyres remained sli- ghtly more expensive compared to retreads on the Russian market.
MORE DEMAND FOR RETREADING SERVICES?
that the current crisis could push Russian businesses to increasingly rely on retreading services as a cost-saving solution.
Denis Obryvalin, spokesperson for the Russian tyre distributor Vos- tokShina commented that in the new reality tyre retreading would be impediments in this area.
“Unfortunately, in Russia, there is no culture of responsible tyre use, it is only in its infancy. They [owners] use tyres with systematic viola- tions and the quality of casings deteriorates. According to various es- timations, retreads in Russia costs 50-70% of the price of a new tyre. But even if you spent 50%, and the tyres fail after 5,000 km, then, of course, there will be no savings, and there will be no point in retrea- ding,” Obryvalin said.
At the same time, Denis Ilyashev, head of the National Tyre Alliance said he had big doubts about a noticeable growth in demand for tyre retreading services. Ilyashev reminded that very few casing in Russia have quality problems.
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