Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The Edge Financial Daily reports, “Top Glove Corp. Bhd. has included Africa as a new growth frontier and is scouting for rubber plantation land in a number of countries there. The proposed move to establish a rubber plantation in Africa is seen as a long-term effort by the company to realize its potential on the continent, which offers a big market for rubber gloves and large tracts of rubber plantation land…

As promised, Michelin made an announcement yesterday afternoon in Waterville, Nova Scotia: the tiremaker will invest $73 million (CDN) in its truck tire plant in the city. The investment will cover equipment improvements, including the installation of new technologies in all aspects of the manufacturing process, and increased production capacity over the next four to five years. The project also will include a 3,000-square-meter assembly building expansion. Michelin anticipates the investment project will create some…

European car sales in December fell the most in more than two years as recessions in the southern part of the region cut demand at Ford Motor Co. (F), General Motors Co. (GM) and Renault SA. (RNO) Registrations plunged 16 percent to 838,428 vehicles last month from 997,842 a year earlier, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, or ACEA, said today in a statement. Full-year sales in the European Union plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland…

Jan 15 (Reuters) – India’s natural rubber imports in December fell 35.63 percent on year to 13,611 tonnes, the state-run Rubber Board said on Tuesday. The world’s fourth-biggest producer imports natural rubber from Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. India’s output during the period rose 3 percent to 110,000 tonnes, it said.

After two consecutive years of modest growth in total tire unit sales, European tiremakers are reporting double digits drops across the board in 2012. While previous market growth can be qualified by the fact that the increases came despite a decrease of ETRMA member marketshare, it is clear that the economic crisis is far from being over. ETRMA’s secretary general Fazilet Cinaralp commented on the “worrying” data and pointed to part-worn sales as a possible…

Continental AG reports that 2012 was another record year for the automotive supplier. Despite slumping auto markets in Europe, the corporation reports in preliminary figures that it boosted 2012 sales by more than 7 per cent to approximately 32.7 billion euros. At around 10.7 per cent, the adjusted EBIT margin topped the previous year’s figure of 10.1 per cent. “Although indicators on the auto markets are more guarded at present than they were a year…

It exported over 1 million tons of rubber in 2012. OCBC Treasury Research noted: Vietnam became the world’s third largest natural rubber exporter in 2012, with over 1 million tons of rubber exported, up 23.8% yoy. Major importers of rubber from Vietnam include Malaysia, India and Taiwan. The country also aims to export at least 7.5 million tons of rice this year at a minimum price of VND5,000/kg (US$0.24/kg). Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor plans…

SHENYANG, China—Bridgestone Corp. will spend $99.9 million to relocate its 18-year-old Bridgestone (Shenyang) Tire Co. Ltd. radial truck and bus tire plant to a site in Shenyang Chemical Industry Park. Bridgestone said the decision to move the plant is “in accordance with Shenyang City development policies,” which have been revised in light of urban growth around the existing Shenyang City plant. The tire maker acquired the factory from Shenyang Santai Tire Co. Ltd. in stages,…

(Reuters) – The U.S. car market’s rebound may be slowing – but it still looks like the best bet to many of the global industry’s top brass as they converge on Detroit for the 2013 auto show. With Europe in a protracted meltdown and some emerging markets flagging, the United States will increase its share of world auto sales this year even as its economy cools, analysts and executives predicted ahead of Monday’s media opening….

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 12): Malaysia’s production of natural rubber (NR) fell in November to 67,936 tonnes, down 20.8% or 17,864 tonnes from October, which was much steeper than the decline in domestic consumption while prices also remained low. The Statistics Department said on Thursday the November output fell 5,164 tonnes (or down 7.1%) from a year ago. Despite the decline, the overall average monthly price of NR in November was low as the average price…