Despite all market developments, KRAIBURG Austria registered a pleasing sales plus for the business year 2018. The retreading specialist had a turnover of 75 million Euro. This corresponds to an increase of about twelve per cent in comparison with the previous year. The growth is again thanks mainly to the increased demand for premium compounds for mould cured retreads. Parallel to this, the sales figures for the quality precured retreads K_plus, K_base and K_tech could be maintained. KRAIBURG Austria processes more than 25,000 tons of rubber per year for the “Tyre Applications” division (retreading materials as well as compounds for the new tyre industry) and produces more than 1,250 kilometres of treads alone. This is equivalent to the distance from Salzburg to London!
Whilst the Upper Austrian company invested millions including the installation of a new mixing line in 2017, in 2018 they concentrated on optimising the internal processes as well as on services for the customers. “The retreaders need all the support they can get,” Stefan Mayrhofer, deputy CEO of KRAIBURG Austria explains. “That is why we are doing all we can to serve our partners optimally and are very pleased to have been able to intensify existing customer relations as well as activate new ones.” KRAIBURG has representatives in all European and some overseas markets. Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden and Poland are the key markets of the Upper Austrian retreading specialist.
2019 – Optimism and new challenges
KRAIBURG Austria looks confidently at the business development for 2019. “We are convinced that the anti-dumping measures, which the EU took last November against the import of cheap new tyres from China, will come into full effect in the coming months, especially in spring with the opening of the construction site season,” Sales Manager Holger Düx comments. “The import statistics show a decline of 50 per cent for 2018 which corresponds to a potential of more than two million tyres. We assume that retreads, which suffered massively from the supply of cheap new tyres in recent years, especially in the construction site sector, will recover a considerable percentage of these.” Those responsible at KRAIBURG see the challenges for 2019, on the one hand, in the threatening Brexit, especially due to the associated legal uncertainties. On the other hand, in further developments in Turkey – a market that has great strategic importance for KRAIBURG and in which the company has a strong presence thanks to the long-standing partnership with its distribution partner Tatko-Lastik. Still on the sales agenda is the growth market in Spain, the potential of which KRAIBURG is successively expanding.
KRAIBURG growth in the Spanish market
KRAIBURG quality retreads in combination with extensive technical support from KRAIBURG Austria are gradually also convincing retreading partners and end users in Spain: The REDIGAL company, for example, has been using the designs from Upper Austria for almost two years. The experienced retreading company based in the region of Galicia and the neighbouring provinces of Asturias, León and Zamora has quite deliberately and very successfully extended its premium segment with KRAIBURG. They have also included the winter designs with the 3PMSF symbol in their programme to satisfy the demands of the cold season. As a result, REDIGAL is pleased to be able to offer its customers retreads of the best possible quality and durability. And at the same time, contribute to cost savings per kilometre.
Using KRAIBURG retreads with conviction
Four REDIGAL customers can confirm this statement: Excavaciones Pérez, Excavaciones Rodríguez Domínguez, Transportes Dasviles or Transportes Porto Martínez. All these companies use retreads from KRAIBRUG with conviction, either on the building site or for regional, national and international long-distance transport and are more than satisfied. This is not only due to the advisory service offered by the retreading company REDIGAL but is also thanks to the high-quality technical support from the tyre service team at Neumáticos. More information about KRAIBURG Austria and its quality treads can be found on the Internet at www.kraiburg-austria.com.
