Bicycle tyres reach foreign markets

Sajjadur Rahman

A local company has made a foray into the international tyre market by earning Tk 35 crore in exports in a year.

Meghna Rubber Industries, a concern of Meghna Group, began exporting tyres in August 2008. The biggest slice of the company's exports was destined to European countries, with other major export markets being Brazil and Taiwan.

“An interesting aspect of tyre exports is value addition. We use locally produced rubber, the main component of tyres,” said Mizanur Rahman, chairman of the group.

Rahman said earnings from tyre exports could reach Tk 500 crore annually in future, if the government comes forward with helping hands. “Government incentives will give us some advantage over our competitors."

The global bicycle tyre industry is worth several billions of dollars. Only Europe consumes 3 crore bicycles annually. Additionally, bicycle tyres need to be replaced at least twice a year, according to industry people.

Meghna Rubber Industries is going to double its capacity from the present 20,000 tyres a day by this year, to meet growing export demand, said MA Halim Khan, executive director of the group.

“We have already geared production,” Khan said.

Meghna Group is also the leading manufacturer and exporter of bicycles in the country.

The export potential of bicycle tyres has cushioned local rubber manufacturers, who were previously facing slack demand for rubber.

Currently, the country is capable of producing about 30,000 tonnes of rubber a year, but some 10,000 tonnes are currently being produced a year because of limited market demand.

“We consume about 150 tonnes of rubber a month to produce bicycle tyres," Khan said. “It could be doubled in one year."

Motahar Billah Chowdhury, vice president of Bangladesh Rubber Garden Owners Association, said, “we are getting better prices for rubber now than two years ago because of increased use of the item by tyre manufacturers.”

“Both the demand and price of local rubber is rising,” said Chowdhury.

However, rubber producers are still getting lower prices for their produce than in India and Malaysia, the two closest markets. “We get only $1.5 for a kilogram of rubber, which costs $2.17 in India."

sajjad@thedailystar.net