Russia’s Tatneft Group is gearing up to offer ATV tyres under its Kama tyre brand. The company announced this week that its Nizhnekamskshina factory has commenced production of an experimental size 25×8-12 tyre, the Kama Quadro ATM, and intends to begin volume manufacture before the end of this year.
Construction of Tatneft’s new joint venture tyre plant in Kazakhstan has commenced with the installation of the first concrete pillar at the site in Saran. Workers are driving in piles parallel to laying foundations in order to ensure the project’s completion on schedule, and Tatneft anticipates it will inaugurate the factory at the end of next year.
In addition to working towards expanding capacity for all-steel truck tyres at its Nizhnekamsk Truck Tyre Factory (NZGSh) by a further 1.2 million units a year, Russia’s Tatneft Group is giving the plant the capability to produce up to 33,000 large-sized industrial and agricultural tyres annually. This project is being financed with a 10 billion ruble (£99 million) loan.
Tatneft’s acquisition of Sibur’s petrochemical plant in Togliatti, Russia has been completed. This concludes the process initiated by the signing of an agreement of intent between the two parties at the end of August 2019.`
Tatneft reports that structural changes have been implemented in its Kama Tyres tyre manufacturing business. The Russian company reports that its OOO Nizhnekamsk Truck Tyres Factory has now joined together with the OOO Nizhnekamsk SSC Tyre Factory. It says the aim of this change is to improve the efficiency of the company’s petrochemical production process management system.
With the launch of the Kama Pro NU 404, Kama Tyres has become Russia’s first tyre brand to offer products featuring a central tyre inflation system. The new range is available in two sizes, 14.00R20 and 16.00R20, as well as in tubed and tubeless versions. The Kama Pro NU 404 is intended for use on four-wheel drive trucks, mainly in off-road conditions and on soft soils, at an ambient temperature range of -45°C to +55°C.
Almost 40 years to the day since the first Kama truck tyre was produced in the Nizhnekamsk Truck Tire Factory, parent company Tatneft reports that the plant has produced its 81 millionth tyre. The tyre will be presented to staff at an event held on 25 April to mark the plant’s 40th anniversary.
The Kama 385/65R 22.5 NF 202, a solid-steel cord truck tyre manufactured by the Nizhnekamsk SSC Tire Factory, is a winner in the ‘Industrial and Technology Products’ of the ‘Best goods and services of the Republic of Tatarstan’ competition. Parent company Tatneft writes that the tyre was chosen from 449 applications submitted by 207 manufacturers.
Messe Essen and the China United Rubber Corporation (CURC) have completed their review of December’s Reifen China show, saying that the show, in conjunction with RubberTech China, continued its upward trajectory in visitor numbers. Messe Essen says that “around 17,500 visitors” gathered at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre between 3 and 5 December 2014, an increase of over 15 per cent year-on-year.
The eighth annual “Asian Essen”, Reifen China took place at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre in the first week of December, with some of the Chinese tyre industry’s major players rubbing shoulders for the last time in 2014. The European side of the Sino-German partnership behind the annual show, Messe Essen stated that it expected the presence of around 120 exhibitors in hall W1 and 15,000 trade visitors. This latter figure, unconfirmed at the time of writing, takes into account the other three-quarters of the twin exhibition; RubberTech China 2014 and the International Exhibition on Rubber & Elastomer, led by the China United Rubber Corporation, comprised around 500 exhibitors across another three halls (W2-4). Messe Essen CEO, Oliver P Kuhrt stressed the importance of the ‘Reifen’ brand’s presence in China, stating in his introduction to the show that it “stands for the success of a fair made in Essen extending across borders”. With about two thirds of the exhibitors at May’s Reifen 2014 visiting Essen from outside Germany, Messe Essen also noted the importance of Reifen China in recruiting Asian participants, whose attention the exhibition organiser has drawn in Shanghai.
You might not think of Kazakhstan as a centre of the international tyre industry and – on a global scale – it isn’t. However, in light of renewed reports of factory investment from Indonesian-based Multistrada as well as the historical context of Nokian’s ill-fated joint-venture there it is worth reporting a little of what else is going on in the country.
Deliveries of Kama tyres for original equipment fitment on Russian-made Ford vehicles are set to begin now that JSC Nizhnekamskshina has received final approval from the Ford Sollers joint venture operation. Nizhnekamskshina began working towards homologation when the joint venture between Ford and Sollers was first established in October 2011.
Tatneft