The Italian tyre retreaders' association chose to return to Bologna, for its 61st general assembly, on 16 November, during the first edition of Futurmotive - Expo and Talks, the new event organised by Promotec and dedicated to the mobility of the future: a choice dictated not only by the desire to support this new event, but also, as AIRP president Stefano Carloni pointed out, by the need to confirm "a simple yet vital concept: at a time when all the efforts of the entire production world, with mobility industry at the forefront, must necessarily converge to reduce environmental impacts as much as possible, minimise consumption and optimise the use of resources, tyre retreading appears more futuristic than we previously thought”.
In his opening speech, president Carloni mentioned a number of concerns including the worrying news coming from abroad, both in relation to the worsening geopolitical scenarios in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and with specific reference to the European tyre industry, which is going through a phase of severe crisis with possible drops in production and redundancies. Furthermore, the national economic scenario is also not particularly positive, as the main industrial indicators show signs of slowing down, as do tyre sales, both new and retreaded. Carloni then pointed out that, despite the scenario, some players are strengthening their position in the market, namely Asian brands, which "keep nibbling away at the market share of premium manufacturers (despite import duties on Chinese tyres) and which over the past two decades have progressively led to complete customer bewilderment, establishing and consolidating bad practices, belittling the value and importance of the product, favouring, at the same time, a disposable approach to purchasing tyres, a trend that is now entrenched in the market”. This aspect, as the president stated, no longer applies to the Italian market alone, but is now also common to other, historically richer European markets, where customers are beginning to choose cheap tyres over retreads in order to save a little cash.
Speaking about measures in support of the retreading sector, the association is trying to soften up the institutions to introduce an adequate penalty system to complete the rule requiring a minimum quota of thirty per cent of retreaded tyres for both public and private companies providing public services. In fact, cases of non-compliance to the rule reported by AIRP members are always numerous and frequent. In the meantime, waiting to see if it will be possible to sanction non-compliant companies, the association has decided to take action to handle individual cases of irregularities, reminding companies of the legal requirements in cases where retreaded tyres are excluded from supplies. Still about making the most of the opportunities related to the supply of tyres for public service fleets, Alessandro Sirleo, lawyer and expert on matters of public procurement requirements, illustrated to the companies present a series of suggestions, also of a practical nature, to optimise the way in which they can participate in tenders and maximise results in this specific market area. Michael Schwämmlein, technical secretary of Bipaver, the European tyre retread association, attended the Italian association's assembly to give attendees an update on several important issues that affect the sector globally. First, several changes are being made to the approval regulations for retreaded tyres, namely UNECE R 108 and R 109, which involve markings for different types of tyres, and the test procedures for the approval of retreads with 3PMSF markings. Further technical aspects, currently being discussed, relate to updates to the regulations for new tyres, which will have to be equally adopted and implemented on retreads.
Another concern for the European association deals with labelling retreaded tyres: the issuing of an appropriate test procedure and regulation is a particularly sensitive need especially for northern European markets. Here the lack of a labelling system strongly penalises tyre retreaders especially in cases of large tenders. Schwämmlein therefore recalled the test proposal dated several years ago, and shared with ETRMA and ETRTO, which is still under review by the relevant offices of the European Commission. The main technical obstacle is the correct assessment of the rolling resistance value, which depends largely on the casing of the tyre being retreaded, while other parameters such as wet grip, rolling noise and winter performance are to be attributed to the tread.
The last topic addressed by Bipaver's technical secretary was anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on truck tyres of Chinese origin, which were introduced in 2018 and expired in November: since a request for their possible extension was made in July, the European Commission has started the procedure for the review of the measures, which will in fact remain in force for the duration of the proceedings; the Commission's offices will have a maximum of 15 months to issue a statement on the extension request, so by early 2025 at the latest, the outcome of the assessment should be known.
The concluding moment of the assembly was, as usual, dedicated to a discussion among the companies in attendance, which was very rich in ideas and topics; In particular, priority was given to the need to work as an association to take advantage of some of the opportunities looming on the horizon, starting with the environmental sustainability report that will be gradually introduced as an obligation for companies from 2024 onwards, and that will be examined by AIRP with the aim of including the use of retreaded tyres among the virtuous solutions for reducing environmental impacts that companies might include in their environmental report, and reaffirming the central role of retreading in the mobility of the future.
