China slowdown impacts Bekaert tire cord business

Courtrai, Belgium – Steel wire transformation company Bekaert has published an early analysis of its annual financial report, stating that tire cord activities in China had negatively affected profit margins.

Bekaert had previously cautioned that the company anticipated a market deterioration due to “tire cord activities in China”.

In its brief, Bekaert said the “stance was reinforced” as one of its competitors in China issued a profit warning in December 2014.

“As cautioned, the tire cord activities in China did deteriorate towards the yearend 2014 and impacted our annual results on some key performance criteria compared to the most recent analyst estimates,” added the company report.

Bekaert did not explain the Chinese market dynamics and how it had affected its business.

In November 2014, however, Bekaert warned about continued price erosion in Chinese tire markets for the last quarter of the year, and anticipated an overall slowdown of demand in the key industrial markets served.

The company also predicted a “weakening industrial demand and continued price erosion in tire markets” in China in its third quarter 2014 report.

Bekaert will release its official annual financial results on 27 Feb.