General Tyre welcomes Chinese tyre companies

General Tyre is striving to recoup the losses it incurred due to Covid-19, announced the CEO of the company, Hussain Kuli Khan.

“The company is steadily on the road to recovery after the covid-19 global shutdown. The plant was shut down for nearly 75 days before resuming operations in June,” said Hussain.

He added that the company caters to four sectors of the market; namely, original Equipment manufacturers, replacement market, institutions, and export.

“During the last year, replacement market sales kept the company going. This segment strengthened because of the steps by the government to curb smuggling and Covid-19 impacting the supply of under-invoiced imported tyres,” he added.

Furthermore, he said that the OEM sales have started picking up after a lacklustre year while the institutional and army tender sales have also increased, as they are giving preference to local products.

“The exports of the company have also grown significantly in the last couple of years with a hope to continue the trend this year as well. The major destination is Afghanistan,” said the CEO.

It is to be noted that at the end of first quarter of the current financial year the net sales of the company were Rs3.2 billion, which is an increase of 42 per cent against the same period last year.

The company reported profit after tax as Rs126 million and the exports for the same period earned the company Rs.29.3 million.

“The company has contributed Rs13.5 billion to the national exchequer during the last five years in the form of duties and taxes,” he added.

The CEO also informed that this year, the company has introduced jointless cap ply in the radial tyres for more stable road contact and a softer ride.

“This has also improved […] the handling of tyres while [reducing] fuel consumptions.”

In the equipment category, the company has added a new steelastic machine for making steel belts for radial tyres.

Furthermore, the company uses a state-of-the-art radial tyre building machines along with hydraulic tyre curing presses.

Talking about the joint ventures of Chinese tyre companies to set up plants in Pakistan, the CEO said this is a welcome move.

“The government has to introduce certain measures to keep them while these steps will also benefit the existing tyre manufacturers,” he said.

He added that the government should ensure that a certain percentage of the raw materials for the industry is manufactured locally as currently over 90 per cent of the raw material is imported.

“Secondly, the government has to continue in its efforts to abolish smuggling and under invoicing of tyres,” suggested the CEO.