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.
In early September 2023, Jiangsu General appeared at The 18th China International Tire Expo (CITExpo 2023) at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre. At the exhibition site, the staff of the tyre manufacturer told Tyrepress China that most of the customers they received this time were from Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Russia and South America.
In early September, the 18th China International Tire Expo (CITExpo 2023) was held in Shanghai. After three years of waiting, this year’s show attracted many dealers from overseas. An exhibitor from Jiangsu General told Tyrepress China: “The results of this year’s China International Tire Expo are quite good. We made appointments with 60 customers before the exhibition. Basically, all of them came. At the same time, we also met many new customers at the exhibition today.” At the popular CITExpo 2023, Tyrepress China noticed that China’s tyre industry is showing two new trends: recovery and transformation.
Well-known tyre brands Michelin and Cooper have faced Chinese customs penalties since July, Tyrepress China has learned.
On 30 August, the first tyre rolled off the production line in the second phase of the Thailand factory run by Huayi, which owns the Double Coin brand. Tyrepress China learned that the project’s second phase involves the production capacity of 300,000 all-steel radial tyres and officially started construction in March this year. If the second phase reaches capacity, the annual production capacity of Huayi’s Thailand factory will be increased to 1.5 million pieces.
Tyrepress China has learned that the owner of the Barkley brand is looking for partners in Europe. According to Lisa Zhong, the brand owner, the products requiring European distributors include truck tyres, agricultural tyres, and radial and bias OTR tyres.
Recently, Jiangsu General announced that it will invest 1.884 billion yuan (approximately £210 million; €240 million) to launch the second phase of the Chinese tyremaker’s Thailand factory. The expansion will add 500,000 all-steel radial tyres and 6 million semi-steel radial tyres to the Thailand production base. It is worth noting that the tyre manufacturer only disclosed that the project’s construction period is 24 months but did not announce the planned start and end time.
On 17 August 2023, several government departments in Shandong Province, China jointly issued a notice relaxing regulations for establishing high-end tyre projects. A more detailed explanation is that some new tyre manufacturing projects will no longer need to eliminate the original production lines with the same energy consumption.
On 4 September the 18th China International Tire Expo (CITExpo) officially opened in Shanghai. Tyrepress China was present and found that many well-known tyre companies, including ZC Rubber, Sailun, Prinx Chengshan, Guizhou Tyre, Doublestar, and Jiangsu General have all made appearances at this exhibition and brought their flagship products.
The growth trend seen in China’s tyre exports throughout 2023 continued in July, albeit at a slower rate of year-on-year growth than seen earlier in the year. China’s tyre makers exported 56.89 million tyres in July 2023, 4.7% more than a year earlier. The value of these exports increased 9.4% year-on-year, to RMB 14.02 billion (£1.5 billion).
In the first half of 2023, ZC Rubber’s revenue was 17.374 billion yuan (about £1.89 billion; €2.21 billion), an increase of 11.24 per cent from 15.618 billion yuan (£1.7 billion; €1.98 billion) in the same period last year. During the same period, the net profit of ZC Rubber was 1.625 billion yuan (approximately £177 million; €207 million).
Chinese manufacturer Guizhou Tyre released its semi-annual report on 22 August, providing progress updates about the production facilities it is currently building at home and overseas. The company also reported revenue of RMB 4.44 billion (£482.6 million, US$611.2 million) for the first half of 2023 and profit of RMB 340 million (£37.0 million, $46.8 million).
On the afternoon of 17 August, Yu Aihua, Party Secretary of Hefei City, Anhui Province, held talks with Christian Kötz, Head of the Continental Tyres division. Tyrepress China learned that Yu and Kötz talked about “accelerating the construction of the fourth phase of the (Hefei factory) project” and planning the follow-up “automotive electronics, R&D centre project”.
In May this year, China’s environmental protection department imposed a penalty on the Cooper Kunshan factory, restricting production on the grounds of violating the “Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law”. At the same time, the tyre manufacturing base was fined 240,000 yuan.
On 9 August, Shen Jinrong, chairman of ZC Rubber, went to the factory in Thailand to inspect the work, and discussed with the senior executives of the Thailand factory on increasing production and reducing costs.
Recently, Hankook stated that it would carry out technical transformation on the TBR production line of the Chongqing factory. Specifically, the tyre manufacturer plans to invest 47 million yuan (about £5.1 million; €5.9 million) to increase the daily production capacity of TBR from 2,560 to 2,960 (annual production capacity from 900,000 to 1.036 million) within 16 months. Hankook says the project will not add new land and will be built in its existing factory workshop.
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