In its 2010-11 annual report, the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers’ Association reports on what it calls the "dominant sentiment amongst industry leaders" – enhancing, or at the very least maintaining, the competitiveness of its member companies.

Elaborating on the situation behind this sentiment, ETRMA secretary general Fazilet Cinaralp comments that, “Europe is the most highly regulated area for tire production and marketing but our global competitors are well aware that there is no market surveillance to enforce our strict rules. This undermines equality in regulatory enforcement and at worst leads to a competitive disadvantage for European producers.”

The association’s 12 tire manufacturer members – Apollo Vredestein, Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper, Goodyear Dunlop, Hankook, Marangoni, Michelin, Mitas, Nokian, Pirelli and Trelleborg – produce tires under a legislative climate that Cinaralp describes as “definitely more stringent than on other continents” in certain areas.

She observes that the complexity of EU legislation is increasing, particularly in regard to environmental issues, to an extent not seen outside of the region.

“Every act of legislation has an impact on industry competitiveness,” the secretary general states. “The need to undertake a thorough competitiveness assessment before any regulatory initiative is launched is a fair and necessary condition – but we do not have it yet.”

Yet the ETRMA believes its members competitive disadvantage is two-pronged: Cinaralp points out that, in addition to the presence of increasingly demanding legislation, Europe remains one of the world’s most open markets – in contrast to “some of our global competitors in the emerging markets [that] still have high tariff barriers and increasingly resort to several kinds of non-tariff barriers in order to hamper our access to their markets.”

Cinaralp states that “proper market surveillance” is lacking within the European Union, and to counter this the ETRMA is undertaking its own surveillance measures. “In its October 2010 meeting, the ETRMA board of directors named proper market surveillance as one focus area for the coming years,” the secretary general expounds. “As a first contribution to this objective, ETRMA launched a PAH-rich oil testing campaign, which has shown that a significant share of imported tires do not necessarily abide by EU rules. It is not possible to tell by looking at a tire if it conforms to the regulations so consumers are unwittingly buying illegal products on EU markets.”

The results of these tests, which Tyres & Accessories reported in March, showed that 12 of the 110 tires tested – all of which were manufactured outside of the EU – failed to comply with applicable legislation.

As Cinaralp shares, competitiveness hinges on a number of factors; in addition to those already mentioned, the ETRMA views fair and sustainable access to raw materials, a good skills base and sufficient investment on research and development as key to remaining competitive. “It is about a solid financial base, security of investments, intellectual property rights and a level playing field,” she continued.

“Recovering from the crisis in the EU while catching up with the unchecked growth in the emerging markets [during] 2010 put a lot of strain on the European tyre and rubber industry. ETRMA in Brussels continues to deploy the necessary steps to put forward the industry points of view, anticipating and assisting the EU institutions in their sophisticated regulatory steps.”

In other news, ETRMA reports that a total of 333.6 million tires were sold in the European replacement market last year, a 29% year-on-year increase and just 0.6% less than during pre-recession year 2007. From this total, passenger car and light commercial vehicle tires accounted for 317 million units (up 27% since 2009 and 1% higher than in 2007) and the remaining 16.6 million (a 66% increase on 2009 yet still 21% down on 2007) were medium and heavy commercial vehicle tires.

During the year a total of 4.5 million tons of tires were produced within the region (an increase of 25% on 2009 and 11.7% less than in 2007); the ETRMA notes that this production represents 26.5% of global tire production, which is estimated to be 17 million tons.

Furthermore, the association’s statistics show ETRMA members to have been the biggest winners in 2010: While total industry turnover for the region increased 6.9% year-on-year to 46 billion euros (6.1% less than in 2007), ETRMA member turnover grew 21.7% year-on-year to 28 billion euros (7.7% higher than in 2007). (Tyres & Accessories)