Foreign information collection and compilation

■On February 29, Titan International, an American OTR tire manufacturer, acquired Carlstar Group LLC for approximately US$296 million (approximately RMB 2.13 billion) in cash and stock. Carlstar Group's sales in 2023 are approximately US$615 million (approximately RMB 4.426 billion), ranking 42nd among the top 75 tire companies in the world. The transaction price is equivalent to nearly four times the company's pre-tax profit of US$73 million last year.

■According to data from the United States Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) and the Department of Commerce, shipments and imports of truck and bus tires in the United States fell by 22.5% and 27.3%, respectively, and production fell by 8%. In addition, according to estimates by the Canadian Tire and Rubber Association, Canadian truck and bus tire shipments fell by 25.5%, and truck tire retreading production is expected to increase only slightly from 2022. To put it in some perspective, despite the sharp decline last year, the replacement market shipments of truck and bus tires were 20.6 million, higher than the data in 2019 and 2020.

■ According to foreign media reports, the joint venture established by Scandinavian Enviro Systems and Antin Infrastructure Partners has officially started construction of a tire recycling plant in Uddevalla, Sweden. It is reported that the initial plan of the plant is to recycle 35,000 tons of waste tires per year, equivalent to 40% of Sweden's annual scrap tire volume. At present, the joint venture has signed a multi-year supply agreement with Michelin for the establishment of the first batch of plants, including the delivery of recycled carbon black and pyrolysis oil.

■ Goodyear recently stated that it will sell "certain assets used to manufacture and sell Avon brand racing tires", and the investor Nova has obtained "brand licenses for the manufacture and sale of certain racing tires named 'Avon Motorsport' and 'Avon Racing'", and plans to produce some Avon racing sports product series independently from Goodyear. It is reported that Goodyear is still the owner of the Avon brand, and the agreement will not change the brand's position in the Goodyear brand portfolio. In addition, Japanese tire manufacturer Sumitomo Rubber said it is interested in acquiring Goodyear's sales and operating rights for the Dunlop tire brand in Europe and North America.

■The Turkish Ministry of Trade issued an announcement, making a final affirmative ruling on the third sunset review of anti-dumping for new rubber tires for heavy vehicles, agricultural vehicles and construction machinery originating in China, and decided to continue to impose a 60% anti-dumping duty on the products involved at the CIF price. The measure will take effect from the date of issuance and will be valid for 5 years.

■Michelin recently announced the establishment of the first scrap tire recycling plant in Uddevalla, Sweden, in cooperation with Enviro and Antin. The Uddevalla plant is scheduled to be fully operational in 2025, with an ambitious goal of processing up to 1 million tons of scrap tires in Europe each year. Once the plant is successfully put into production, Michelin will take a solid step towards its goal of using 100% sustainable materials for its products by 2050.

■The 79th meeting of the Tire and Noise Working Group (GRBP) of the United Nations World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (UN/WP.29) was held at the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Representatives from China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., Ltd., China Automotive Standardization Research Institute, China Automotive Standards Internationalization Center (Geneva) and WP.29 China Working Committee (C-WP.29) attended the meeting. The meeting reviewed and approved a series of working documents, including: proposals to use the latest ISO noise test road standards in UNR41 motorcycle noise regulations and UNR63 scooter noise regulations, proposals for UNR30 passenger car and trailer tire regulations, proposals for UNR54 commercial vehicle and trailer tire regulations, proposals for UNR108/109 retread tire regulations, and a number of amendments to UNR117 tire rolling resistance, noise and wet grip regulations.

Domestic information collection and editing

▲ Youdao Tire Co., Ltd. plans to invest about 1 billion yuan to expand the high-performance all-steel load-bearing radial tire production line project. It will achieve production automation, intelligence and high efficiency through technical transformation of existing equipment and the addition of new equipment and new processes. After the expansion is completed, the production capacity will reach 4 million pieces/year, with an estimated annual output value of about 4 billion yuan.

▲On February 29, ARLANXEO announced that it will build a new hydrogenated nitrile rubber (HNBR) plant in Changzhou. The total investment of the project is about US$210 million (about RMB 1.5 billion), with a designed annual production capacity of about 5,000 tons. The first phase of the project has an annual production capacity of 2,500 tons and will be officially put into production in the third quarter of 2025.

▲Jiamei (Shandong) Rubber Co., Ltd. plans to invest 3.7 billion yuan to build 15 million sets of high-performance radial tires and 80,000 tons of off-road tire intelligent manufacturing and supporting facilities projects.

▲Hebei Huami New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. released its 2023 performance report, and it is expected to achieve a year-on-year increase of 19.35% in operating income to 400 million yuan in 2023, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 22.15% to 52.0792 million yuan.

▲On February 20, Tiantie Co., Ltd. issued an announcement that it has signed an investment agreement with the Management Committee of Lujiang High-tech Industrial Development Zone in Hefei, Anhui, to invest in a modified graphite negative electrode material project with an annual output of 100,000 tons in Lujiang High-tech Zone. The total investment of the modified graphite negative electrode material project with an annual output of 100,000 tons is about 1.45 billion yuan. After the project is fully completed and put into production, it is expected to achieve an annual output value of 2.5 billion yuan and pay about 100 million yuan in taxes annually.

▲On February 19, the main project of the Sino-Saudi Gulei Ethylene Project, a joint project with an annual output of 1.5 million tons of ethylene and downstream deep processing, started in full swing. The investors are Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and Fujian Energy and Petrochemical Group, with a total investment of about 44.8 billion yuan, and it is expected to be completed in 2026. Through the resource sharing of upstream and downstream production enterprises in the park, it will drive downstream synthetic resin, synthetic fiber, synthetic rubber and other industries

▲Zhongding shares plans to invest 2 billion yuan to build the Xi'an R&D Center and intelligent chassis parts production project in the Xi'an Economic Development Zone. Among them, the R&D center project will carry out matching design, parameter optimization, R&D and trial production of multi-system control units such as lightweight forged aluminum steering knuckles, and provide vehicle companies with chassis overall solutions with stability, safety and comfort. The intelligent chassis parts production project will focus on the industrialization layout of rubber parts such as air suspension systems, body bushings, suspension vibration isolation, and sealing systems, adding strong momentum to the accelerated growth of the automotive industry chain in the Economic Development Zone.

▲Shandong Superior Rubber's "Annual Production of 12 Million Sets of Ultra-High-Performance Environmentally Friendly Passenger Car Tires and Annual Production of 3 Million Sets of Green Intelligent Load-bearing Tires Project" has been filed with relevant departments, with a total investment of 5.16 billion yuan.

▲At present, the second-phase expansion production line project of Jianxin Tire (Fujian) with an annual output of 1.5 million all-steel radial tires is being promoted in an orderly and efficient manner, with the construction of 80,000 square meters of the main plant completed and the new tire production line with a production capacity of 800,000. By November this year, the production capacity of the second-phase expansion project will be increased to 1.2 million, with annual sales of 4.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20%, and tax payments of nearly 200 million yuan.

▲The third phase expansion project of Wanli Tire was launched at the Conghua production base. The overall planned annual production capacity of the third phase project is 12 million tires, creating a first-class green, intelligent and efficient tire manufacturing demonstration factory in China, aiming to become a new "lighthouse factory" in the domestic tire industry. The project will be implemented in two phases. The annual production capacity of the first phase expansion project is 6 million tires. It is expected to achieve trial production in December this year. After reaching full production, it can achieve an average annual increase of nearly 100 million yuan in profits and an output value of more than 1 billion yuan.

▲In 2023, my country's total export volume of conveyor belts increased by 13.1% to 445,100 tons, and the total export volume increased by 9.9% to US$1.008 billion, setting a new historical high. The average export price fell by 2.8% to US$2,265/ton. The total export volume of hoses increased by 12.6% to 312,400 tons, the total export volume increased by 6.2% to US$1.499 billion, and the average price fell by 5.8% to US$4.8/kg. The total export volume of transmission belts fell by 2.1% to 80,000 tons, the total export volume fell by 0.6% to US$521 million, and the average price increased by 1.5% to US$6.52/kg.

▲According to data from Longzhong Information, the prices of raw materials for tires have risen to varying degrees. Among them, butadiene rose by 2.93%, natural rubber by 3.1%, styrene-butadiene rubber by 0.79%, antioxidant by 1.19%, and carbon black N660 by 11.11%. At the same time, as various enterprises resumed work and production after the Spring Festival, the tire capacity utilization rate of sample enterprises increased significantly. As of the week of February 22, the capacity utilization rate of semi-steel tires was 62.89%, and that of full-steel tires was 50.57%.

▲Unlike the hot semi-steel tires, the current full-steel tire market is still in a difficult situation. According to data calculated by Longzhong Information, in February 2024, my country's full-steel tire production was 8.39 million, a month-on-month decrease of 23.87% and a year-on-year decrease of 37.62%, a significant decline. In addition, from February 23 to February 29, the capacity utilization rate of China's all-steel tire sample enterprises was 69.80%, a month-on-month increase of 19.23% and a year-on-year decrease of 4.36%. The high month-on-month increase was mainly affected by the resumption of work after the Spring Festival.