To accelerate the transformation and upgrading of tire industry in Shandong Province as well as strengthen and enhance the advantage for development of tire industry, on October 22, Shandong Province, the largest tire production province in China, issued Transformation and Upgrading Scheme of Tire Industry. The Scheme puts forwards that by 2020, the proportion of green tire products in key enterprises of Shandong province shall reach over 60% and two tire enterprises shall reach level of world tire Top Ten. Supporting measures like Green Tire Technical Specification, Green Tire Authentication Method, Access Conditions for Tire Industry, etc. of Shandong province shall be compiled to ensure the realization of the goal.
The statistics shows that in 2013, there were totally 287 tire production enterprises (including production enterprises of motorcycle tires and cycle tires) in Shandong province, among which there were 33 all-steel radial tire production enterprises, whose output was 62.28 Million units, accounting for 58% of the national output; there were 24 semi-steel radial tire production enterprises, whose output was 179 Million units, accounting for 49% of the national output.
In recent years, the tire industry of Shandong province has developed rapidly with the number and scale of the enterprises continuously expanding and the product structure adjustment speeding up significantly. In 2013, there were 28 enterprises with production capacity of over 1.2 Million all-steel radial tires and 19 enterprises with production capacity of over 6 Million semi-steel radial tires in the whole province. The output of semi-steel radial tire and all-steel radial tire increased from 42.2 Million units and 31.5 Million units in 2008 to 179 Million units and 62.28 units in 2013 respectively. The radial rate of tire increased from 62% in 2008 to 85% in 2013, and the proportions of high-performance, low-section, ultra-low-section and high-speed semi-steel radial tire and all-steel radial tubeless tire increased obviously, the proportion of the products above in key enterprises like Triangle Group and Linglong Tire Company had reached over 50%. Green tires passing the U.S. SmartWay authentication and meeting the requirements of E.U. REACH regulation and E.U. Labeling Act accounted for about 20% of the total output of radial tires in the whole province, the quality of tire products was of domestic leading position and a few high-end varieties reached the international advanced level.
During its development of over 20 years, there still exist many problems and shortages in the tire industry of Shandong province. The enterprises still have a large gap with the large world tire companies in capacity, output and sales. The overall capacity of Linglong Tire Company with the largest output only accounts for 20% of that of Goodyear. Low and medium-grade tire products are predominated with few high-end products. The passenger car radial tire is mainly used in replacement market, agricultural radial tire can be produced by only 2 enterprises and aircraft tire is under research and development. The tire brands have low popularity, under the circumstance that the ordinary consumers generally decide purchasing behavior with brand recognition, brand strategy is of great importance for the transformation and upgrading of tire industry in Shandong province. Although tire enterprises in Shandong province pay more attention to technological innovation and continuously increase R&D input in recent years, their ciara assoluta still has a large gap with that of first-class enterprises in the world. Especially there is no tire testing ground, thus the tire testing and detection capacity is inadequate, which severely restricts the tire products from supporting the world famous automobile brands.
In the next 6 years, the target of Shandong province is to realize the transformation and upgrading through emphasizing industrial structure, innovation capacity, brand cultivation and energy conservation and emission reduction. By the end of 2017, the proportion of green tire products will reach 35%; by the end of 2020, it will reach 50%. The proportion of all-steel tubeless tires will reach 70%, the proportion of mid- and high-end semi-steel radial tire with middle and low section and big rim will reach 55% and the proportion of high-end semi-steel radial tire in key enterprises will reach over 80%. Through implementing brand strategy, it strives to realize that one and two tire enterprises enter world tire top 10 by the end of 2017 and 2020 respectively. By the end of 2020, the dust and smoke generated in the process of rubber mixing and vulcanization by production enterprises of radial tire in the whole province will be effectively controlled.
To ensure the realization of targets and the completion of key tasks, Shandong province will issue a series of supporting measures. Firstly, according to the national policy of tire industry and referring to the Green Tire Technical Specification Self-discipline Standard and Appraisal Index System of Cleaner Production of Tire Industry, etc. of China Rubber Industry Association, Shandong Province Green Tire Technical Specification and Standard of Cleaner Production Factory of Tire Industry in Shandong Province will be compiled. The Industry Association shall provide audit opinion for the newly-built or rebuilding and expansion tire projects according to the above specification and standard. Secondly, the green tire products supportive policy and green tire authentication method of Shandong province shall be formulated. Thirdly, the promotion scheme of energy-saving technology of tire industry in Shandong province shall be formulated. Fourthly, Access Conditions of Tire Industry in Shandong Province shall be formulated and the exit compensatory approach of closing down outdated production facilities shall be studied and formulated. Fifthly, by 2015, Shandong tire industry operational monitoring platform shall be established to periodically track the information like capacity scale, work load, market demand, newly-built and expansion ability, state between supply and demand, etc. and to release to the relevant department or enterprise. Sixthly, by 2015, the Shandong tire industry brand cultivation plan shall be formulated to continuously improve the brand value of tire.