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singly popular (although data is hard to come by!) In Indonesia, retread tyre sales reached 13.6 million units in 2017, but growth has been mixed since. Truck tyres are mostly impor- ted into Indonesia, even with stringent import regulations, so retreaders have room to grow. However, competition within SEA due to the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement means Vietnam and Thailand can produce tyres cheaper than in Indonesia. There are plenty of big manufacturers in Indonesia, but their general tyre market is in decline, especially due to a difficult export market, including the EU’s EUDR implementation. It is a rocky road ahead for Indonesian retreaders.
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE
Regulatory challenges vary significantly across the region, but there seems to be one commonality for retreaders: they don’t seem to be helping the industry. For example, Malaysia’s MS224 standards align with international nor- ms, whereas Thailand (TIS 2979-2019) and Indonesia (SNI 0099:2012) have less stringent local standards. More strin- gent laws would mean better quality products, but additional barriers, such as advanced technology in the retread process
and higher costs related to original casings. The biggest issue we see across SEA often relates to enforcing local regula- tions. On a local level, almost across the board, this has led to a negative perception of retreads that doesn’t seem to abate, no matter how hard the industry works to counter it. On a regional scale, lack of enforcement has led to illegal imports, making competition on price for retreads difficult. Retreads are typically cheaper than a new tyre; however, there’s not a huge difference if that new tyre is of low quality and not subject to import taxes, making the challenge much more complex.
In SEA, we see several global initiatives, such as import ta- riffs and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Laws, that need to be adopted to level the playing field in each country. However, regulations like EUDR and USITC’s anti-dumping investigations make the region look bad but are also a barrier to key export markets. It’s probably fair to say that as much as regulation is seen as hampering retreading, it’s critical for the region to adopt international best practices to help drive consideration in the global marketplace.
SUSTAINABILITY
SEA is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. It is of critical importance to the world in this regard. However, as with regulation, the region falls down on the things essential for its own growth. There are sure reasons for this. With most
FEATURE
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