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EMIRATES TIRES
DEVELOPS
IN UAE MARKET WITH GIIB SUPPORT
Emirates Tyre Factory, based in Sharjah, is one of the pioneers in the retreading industry in the UAE. Founded in 1997 by a local tyre trader, the company was acquired in 2019 by the experienced Abdul Shukoor, now general manager of the plant, along with two other partners, given a face-lift and transformed into a modern retread factory. Our correspondent Rafik Kozman spoke to Shukoor to find out more about the UAE retread sector and how Emirates Tyre Factory markets itself to local fleets.
According to Shukoor, due to the heavy construction and real es- tate business in the Middle East, there has been a huge require- ment for heavy transportation in the region over the course of the past 30 years. The new tyre market is mostly dominated by Chinese tyres with Giti, Sailun, Longmarch, etc. being the leading Chinese brands available in the market. Other major brands like Michelin, Bridgestone, Firestone, Sumitomo etc. are also availa- ble.
Annual truck tyre consumption in the UAE is estimated to be around 480,000 units, primarily steel radials, with 12.00 R 24 be- ing the fastest moving size. For Shukoor one of the key aspects of the market is the fact that new tyres are still not being sold ac- cording to their retreadabilty. “The end user has not yet reached this level of understanding,” he says.
Tyre retreading was first started in UAE in 1970 by Bandag, explained Shukoor, after which the number of plants grew to just over 30 at the time of the 2008 recession. Initially the market was dominated by the cold process, although for a long time there existed a scenario where the police were penalizing the poor-quality appearance of the retread- ed tyres, and to overcome this issue many retreaders switched to mould cure retreading, as it offers a new tyre look. Presently 11 companies out of 15 that operate in the UAE use both hot and cold retread systems.
The majority of the retreaders in the UAE are of Indian origin, but there are two locally owned companies, and a Jordanian owned company out of the 15 existing retreaders. Michelin, Goodway, Kraiburg, Kartindo, Midas, Tolins and Vipal are active in the market apart along with a few other Indian tread suppliers. Bandag stopped their operation in Jebel Ali at the beginning of 2020.
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