Tyre makers say capacity back at pre- Covid levels
On the backdrop of increase in demand from the aftermarket, farm sector, two-wheeler and cars segments, tyre makers have started seeing their capacity utilisation reaching 80-90 per cent. However, companies are cautious on the outlook for the whole financial year as there are too many variables which may change.
Rajiv Budhraja, director general, Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association, said month-on-month demand was going up. “Factors helping the capacity utilisations to improve are encouraging domestic replacement demand in passenger vehicles, two-wheelers and the farm segment, and drop in imports,” he said.
Satish Sharma, president, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Apollo Tyres, said the demand in the after-market had been robust since June across categories.
“Each successive month, since May, we have been improving our utilisation over the previous month. Demand in after market is stronger yearover-year, original equipment manufacturers are successively improving, and now, with container availability normalising, we hope to improve our exports as well over last year," said Sharma.
Company management in a recent interview mentioned that their capacity utilisation was upwards of 80 per cent
CEAT Chief Financial Officer Kumar Subbiah said capacity utilisation at the company was nearly 100 per cent and the demand was slightly higher than pre- Covid levels for the replacement market and original demand is close to where it was before Covid. He said CEAT was also producing more to bring the inventory at normal levels.