Withat least three main tyre exhibitions operating in China, not to mention a tyrerecycling and retreading fair, other related rubber conferences, and otherexhibitions in the Far East, T&A asked if there will be a kind ofconsolidation in the show sector, with the more provincial exhibitions ceasingto be international scale events. Wilko Fong, director of CITExpo organisers,Reliable Exhibitions, shied away from commenting on the relative success ofother exhibitions. Instead he preferred to quantify CITExpo’s success on itsown merits: “CITExpo is now a mature show and while it is still growing now,after 6 years future growth is likely to level off and mature. The show islikely to become a more regular established show for tyres.”
CITExpohas a character of its own. There may not have been a full complement of thetop 10 Chinese tyre manufacturers present at the 2008 show, but large-scalemanufacturers such as Triangle and Sibur took very significant sized stands.Sibur’s reasoning for its involvement with CITExpo was particularly telling.Bearing in mind the fact that, at present, the large Russian manufacturergenerally exports economy-orientated truck tyres, China (home to probably thelargest manufacturing base for this level of products in the world) is unlikelyto be the end destination the company was aiming to reach. In stead Siburinvested in exhibiting at CITExpo in order to meet European buyers sent east toprocure next year’s stocks.
Inaddition to this clear trade-focused environment, as the following articlesdemonstrate, the show also provided an opportunity to source new previouslyunknown suppliers of key product lines.
Manufacturingevolution
WhileCITExpo’s buying community has been pretty straightforward in showing itsdissatisfaction with the volume and scope of price increases some Chinesemanufacturers implemented this year, for their part Chinese tyre makers areshowing clear signs of upping the ante. Supply/demand, raw material and globaleconomic issues may delay the impact these manufacturers have on the mature andwestern markets, but recent years have seen the Chinese products come on leapsand bounds in terms of quality and technology.
Whenyou compare any of the three Chinese exhibitions Tyres & Accessories hascovered this year it is clear that the abundance of giant OTR radialsrepresents an unrealistically rapid advance in technology. Last year fewmanufacturers had this technology, now dozens supposedly do. In fact this isone area where only the best really are as good as they say they are and somecompanies claiming radial OTR technology, upon closer inspection are actuallyonly offering bias tyres in the larger sizes.
Speaking torepresentatives of the trusted TUV Sud testing laboratories in Shanghai revealsthat Chinese manufacturers (especially in the passenger car segment) areincreasing their concentration on narrowing the gap with premium manufacturers.Some estimates put the technology gap at around five years, however the mostadvanced suppliers are working to surpass the latest ECE homologations andfuture-proof themselves from further developments. (Tyres &Accessories/Staffordshire, U.K.)
