Month: July 2016

Discount Tire/America’s Tire opened four retail stores in the past few months, pushing the Scottsdale-based retailer past the 920-store mark nationwide.

The new stores are in Rhonert Park, Calif.; Dubuque, Iowa; Columbus, Ohio; and Florence, S.C. All are states where Discount Tire already was doing business.

The outlet in Rohnert Park — operating under the company’s America’s Tire signage — is its second store in Sonoma County and 

Read the source article at home.tirebusiness.com

The second part of the New Straits Times exclusive interview with Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong.

Question: Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, which together are producing around 70 per cent of the world’s rubber, are reducing exports by 615,000 tonnes for six months until next month. So far, is this tripartite collaboration effective in supporting rubber prices?  

Answer: Rubber price is still at a very low level. I think the SMR20 pricing is only trading around RM5.06 per kg. The government has a scheme to subsidise the smallholders. More than 90 per cent of the country’s rubber supply is from them. We must continue to help and look after their interest. The top up threshold level is RM5.50.

Besides, there’s a high stockpile of rubber worldwide. As the sixth-largest rubber producer, Malaysia cannot really control the world’s rubber prices. But of course, producing countries are working together to implement the agreed export tonnage scheme.

I know that the International Tripartite Rubber Council, which is made up of representatives from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, is doing its job. Moreover, Malaysia’s export consists more of finished goods such as medical gloves compared with raw rubber.

Video: Report by Ooi Tee Ching 

Read the source article at nst.com.my

India’s imports of radial tires continued to grow in the fiscal first quarter despite a slowdown in the pace, driving local manufacturers to increase the pitch against what they called dumping by China and demand for a safeguard duty on supplies from abroad. 

Imports of truck and bus radial (TBR) tires surged 40% during April-June, while those of passenger car radials increased 22%, the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association said. According to the industry body, dumping of radial tyres has reached unprecedented levels. …

Read the source article at Auto News