Page 23 - Retrading Business N103 2022-4
P. 23
INTERVIEW
MARANGONI
RETREADING VOLUME GROWTH FOR MARANGONI INDIA GATHERS PACE
Hemant Kaul, CEO, Marangoni India is spearheading the Italian retread major’s India drive. According to Marangoni, India is a promising $1 Billion retread market, which is at the cusp of transfor- mation. The company continues to expand its footprint in the Indian once value has been demonstrated.” Our Indian correspondent Satnam Singh spoke to Kaul about the challenges the Indian market poses and his company’s plans for the future.
How big is the Indian retread market now in terms of value and volumes?
In a market like India where there is no well-established industry body / associa- tion specifically for retreading, accurate industry size numbers are difficult to co- me by. However, it is widely believed that the overall industry has a size of more or less $1 Billion; this is made up of retrea- ding materials, retreaded tyres, equip- ment, repair consumables etc.
What is the current size of the precure mar- ket compared to the traditional hot cure sector?
The industry estimates that almost three quarters of the market is now dominated by the pre-cure version of retreading.
Do you think hot cure still has a significant share and will continue to hold ground? If so, in which segments?
Agriculture and large OHT tyres still depend on ‘hot’ retreading and will con- tinue to do so. A further niche segment which relies on hot cure is aircraft tyre retreading.
Do you think the precure process will com- pletely replace the hot cure process in India?
No! Agriculture, large OHT and aircraft tyre segments will continue to be servi- ced by this type of retreading.
What is the road ahead for the Indian re- treading industry?
The road ahead is extremely promising with several enabling developments such CV tyre radialisation going above 50%, leading to the need for high quality retreads in higher numbers. Organised retreading is becoming pre-eminent at the cost of thousands of low-quality re- treading shops.
Fleets are demanding better quality re- treads that ‘perform better and fail less’ and are willing to pay for them. There is a decreasing number of ‘retreading scep- tics’ in the market and a growing number of ‘retreading promoters’ among fleets.
Incumbent players are improving the quality of their treads to increase tyre li- fe significantly. End-to-end retread tyre solutions like Marangoni’s RingTyre that takes a premium brand casing, applies globally established process to offer ‘a tyre that looks and performs like a new tyre’.
Do you think the market is changing and retreaders are now willing to offer high-end products?
A key factor that will aid the maturing of the market will be the willingness of incumbent players to offer differentia- ted products to fleets, thereby discar- ding the ‘commodity’ mindset that does not allow value-addition to grow in the industry. This can be seen from undiffe- rentiated flat treads available at similar price points from all players. The new tyre industry has demonstrated the fa-
llacy of this approach with the current leaders shedding approach this several years ago, resulting in them taking a sig- nificant lead over players that have re- mained rooted in the past.
How has the Indian retreading market changed in recent times?
The biggest change has been the emer- gence and subsequent dominance of pre-cured retreading in India. The ers- twhile ‘hot’ process has almost lost its preference and relevance in the CV tyre sector where pre-cured dominates, whi- le retaining its position in agriculture and OHT segment.
Next has been the way retreads are sold in the market. From an almost comple- tely unorganised sector, organised re- treading has established itself in India and continues to grow. The increasing professionalism of fleets, growing ra- dialisation in CV tyres and the entry of tyre majors and international players into this sector continues the transfor- mation.
Retreading technology has also changed with better equipment, but the stan- dards still lag those in more advanced markets. This is largely due to the frag- mented nature of the retreading equip- ment industry, and not enough attention is paid to this aspect by the retreading industry majors. The latter continue to focus on ‘selling rubber’, and less at- tention is paid to upgrading the overall standards of retreading.
P.23
