Nizhnekamskshina forecasting 12% growth

ERJ staff report (TB)

Tire Business Report

Nizhnekamsk, Russia — Russian tire maker JSC Nizhnekamskshina is projecting 12-percent growth in 2013 to 11.5 million tires, the firm's executives sold shareholders at the firm's recent annual meeting.

Nizhnekamskshina, a unit of the Russian petrochemical giant Tatneft, claims output last year of 10.3 million tires at its three factories represented 25 percent of overall Russian tire production in 2012.

The executives said Nizhnekamskshina launched seven new tire models last year and told shareholders that "innovative" products now represent one-fifth of the company's output.

In particular, the executives pointed out development of the Kama Euro and Viatti tire lines, production of which hit 1.3 million units last year and will more than triple this year to 4.5 million units. Nizhnekamskshina disclosed last summer it was installing robotic tire assembly equipment from VMI Group of the Netherlands at its main plant in Nizhnekamsk to accommodate the new production.

The Euro line comprises nearly all of Nizhnekamsk's product types, from passenger to OTR, while the Viatta passenger line is pitched as the firm's premium product range "manufactured according to exclusive German technology having no analogy in the world."

Nizhnekamsk did not disclose the scale of this investment or other modernization projects carried out during the year but did say it invested $3.4 million on environmental safety measures.

Shareholders also learned at the meeting that Nizhnekamskshina earned "reliable supplier" and "excellent supplier" honours last year from the Russian vehicle makers AvtoVAZ and GAZ Group and that the company earned ISO 14001:2007 environmental management system status at its factories.

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Article from Tire Business