Aeolus eyes mfg. capacity outside of China

Aeolus Tyre Co. Ltd. is exploring its options regarding adding truck tire manufacturing capacity outside of China as part of its strategy to maintain its market presence in the U.S., where it faces import duties of roughly 49 percent.

Aeolus Tyre — which is in the process ofintegrating its manufacturing assets with those of China National Chemical Co.’s two truck and bus tire subsidiaries — said its revamped structure will allow it to deal more effectively with the pending U.S. duties on Chinese truck and bus tires and make Aeolus brand more competitive in the U.S. market.

The U.S. market can expect to see these new changes gradually implemented in 2017, Aeolus said.

“These changes will include sourcing new manufacturing capacity outside of China,” said Xu Xin, Aeolus’s director of international truck, bus, radial sales and marketing.The company did not elaborate at this time on its options for securing manufacturing capacity outside of China.

Aeolus claims an approximate 2.5-percent share of the U.S. medium radial truck tire replacement market and said its strategic objective is to further enhance its brand by delivering produts that offer an optimal mix of cost and performance.

Aeolus claims that synergies of the combined group — which also includes a 10-percent stake in Pirelli Industrial, the Italian tire maker’s commercial tire business unit that’s being spun off under the ChemChina-Pirelli global merger — are expected to provide new marketing and product opportunities to raise the Aeolus commercial brand position.

“The Aeolus brand has maintained a high reputation for product quality in the market.  Aeolus is committed to continued supply of high quality products while increasing value to our clients in the U.S., Mr. Xu said.Chinese tire makers are facing U.S. anti-dumping duties of 30.36 percent and countervailing duties of 20.22 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is scheduled to make a final ruling on these rates by Jan. 17 at the latest.