An inclusive idealist. I am a Masters graduate from the University of Westminster. I’ve read over 1000 books, traveled to every province in China as a backpacker, and volunteered with several NGOs in Southeast Asia. I have many years of working experience as a journalist in the auto industry.
On 18 January, Sailun Group announced an 833-million-yuan (£99.63 million) investment to upgrade OTR tyre production at its plant in Qingdao, China. The upgrade will allow Sailun to produce OTR tyres in sizes up to and including 49-inch. The tyre maker intends to complete this upgrade and adjust its production portfolio within a period of ten months.
On 17 January, Sentury said it will adjust its financing plan through the stock market and specifically non-public offering of shares. After the adjustment, the tyre manufacturer will obtain no more than 2.8 billion yuan (about £330 million; 380 million euros), which is far lower than the 4 billion yuan (about £480 million; 540 million euros) proposed in the previous plan.
As of January 2023, Agustin Pedroni has become general manager of Bridgestone (China) Investment Co. Ltd. Pedroni joined Bridgestone in Argentina in 1996 and worked in administration, sales and marketing roles in Argentina, Latin America and South America. Pedroni came to Bridgestone Asia Pacific in 2019 is the vice president of marketing and sales and was later promoted to the chief operating officer of the Asia Pacific region.
On 11 January 2023, Guizhou Tyre (also known as Advance Tyre) stated that it has terminated one of its recent tyre manufacturing projects before it got to the construction stage. Guizhou Tyre said its “3 million sets of high-performance all-steel radial tyres” a year construction project was closed down effective 31 December 2022.
With the relaxation of epidemic prevention and control policies, China has experienced a large-scale infection wave since early December. Many tyre factories have experienced or are experiencing worker shortages. The Lunar New Year in China is likely to see hundreds of millions of people to move around the country, leading to a more rapid spread of Covid-19. It is difficult to predict when China will shake off the epidemic’s impact; for the Chinese tyre industry, the current wave of infections is both a challenge and an opportunity.
Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. Ltd (ZC Rubber) recently issued an update on the progress of its initial public offering (IPO). According to the data, Zhongce Haichao (a company established by four local Hangzhou enterprises in 2019 in order to invest in ZC Rubber, namely Hangzhou Great Star Industrial Co., Ltd., Hangcha Group Co., Ltd., Juxing United Holding Group Co., Ltd., and Hangzhou Haichao Enterprise Management Partnership (Limited Partnership) holds 41.08 per cent of the tyre manufacturer’s shares and is the company’s controlling shareholder. Qiu Jianping and his daughter Qiu Fei hold 46.95 per cent of the shares and corresponding voting rights of ZC Rubber through Zhongce Haichao and several other companies and therefore control ZC Rubber.
On 30 December 2022, Sailun held a general meeting of shareholders to elect members of the sixth board of directors. Liu Yanhua was elected chairwoman of the tyre manufacturer, and Xie Xiaohong became president of Sailun. Liu Yanhua’s resume shows that she worked in two accounting firms before coming to Sailun. Prior to being elected as the chair, Liu Yanhua was the vice chairwoman, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Sailun.
Goodyear is investing US$200 million (about 1.37 billion yuan, £170 million, 190 million euros) in its Cooper Kun Shan tyre factory. Following the latest investment, the total investment of the Cooper Kun Shan plant is expected to reach $500 million (about 3.42 billion yuan, £410 million, 470 million euros).
Luo Yongli, deputy general manager of the company, recently told a briefing that he is optimistic about the operation of Cheng Shin in 2023. In the past, Cheng Shin has reportedly significantly reduced capital expenditures to combat adversity in the operating environment. But with the overall situation expected to improve, the tyre maker will start expanding production capacity, including launching a 40 million tyre capacity expansion plan at factories in mainland China.
In 2022, several significant events took place in China’s tyre industry. These things had a profound impact on the tyre industry not only in 2022, but for a long time.
On 28 December 2022, the Customs Tariff Commission of China’s State Council issued an announcement stating that from 1 January 2023, import tariffs on some commodities will be adjusted. In 2023, the products that can still enjoy preferential tariffs are retreaded tyres for aircraft. As in the previous year, such products will be subject to a provisional import duty of 4 per cent. Under normal circumstances, Chinese customs should impose a 20 per cent tariff on retreaded tyres for aircraft.
On 30 December Linglong announced that it would adjust the construction of its seventh production base in China. The construction location of the project was changed from Lujiang, Anhui, to Lu’an, Anhui. At the same time, the tyre manufacturer’s Lu’an factory is preparing to build a project with an annual output of 14 million sets of high-performance radial tyres and a project to regenerate via retreading and material recovery 30,000 tons of waste tyres. In the original design, Linglong’s seventh factory in China was intended to have an annual production capacity of 14.6 million sets of radial tyres.
According to export data released by China Customs, China exported 40.72 million “new pneumatic rubber tyres” (a term that includes all pneumatic tyres including bicycles as well as enginen-drive tyre products) in November. The exported tyres weighed 550,000 tons and were worth 9.88 billion yuan (about £1.18 billion; 1.33 billion euros).
At a dealer meeting held by Aeolus on 16 December 2022, Wang Feng delivered a speech as “Chairman of China National Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. (CNRC) and Chairman of Aeolus”. Wang Feng emphasised that in 2021, the sales revenue of Aeolus, Prometeon Tyre Group S.r.l. (PTG), and Pirelli ranked fifth in the world and first in China. The sales revenue of Aeolus and PTG ranked among the top three in China’s domestic industry.
Recently, China’s largest tyre manufacturer Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber (ZC Rubber) has taken an important step in the stock market listing process: The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) received the IPO application of ZC Rubber. Next, CSRC will review the materials submitted by ZC Rubber. If it passes the audit, ZC Rubber will become a listed company.
