Central Trading launches new tyre brand to meet increasing demand

Dubai: Central Trading Company (CTC), the Dubai-based member of the Al Rostamani Group, on Tuesday launched a new tyre brand, Federal, in the country.

The Taiwanese tyres are CTC's second brand besides Michelin and are positioned in a lower price range, CTC general manager Mohammad Aqel told Gulf News at the launch.

"This will enable us to cater to a new segment of the market where demand is relatively high," Aqel said.

In the current market, more people are looking to use their cars for a longer period of time than to buy a new one, Aqel believes.

This increases the demand for tyre replacement and maintenance. For this reason, CTC will soon open six tyre service centres across the UAE, which will offer an entire service range, Vik Naidu, chief marketing officer of the Al Rostamani Group, said.

The new centres are planned as standalone stations as well as outlets at petrol pumps.

Global reach

Federal was the first Taiwanese tyre manufacturer to venture out onto the international market under its own brand.

"After years of exploring and learning about the UAE market, we have finally understood how the market operates," said Jamie Ma, Federal Tyres chief executive.

"Therefore, we have chosen Central Trading Company as our UAE partner due to their expertise and professional management of the tyre business."

Federal was founded in 1954 as a rubber company, producing its first tyre in 1958. Technical cooperation with Bridgestone began in 1960 and lasted for 20 years. In 1981, the company switched to technical cooperation with Dunlop.

The brand is also widely known worldwide, especially in the United States, Japan and Australia, for its motorsports and racing products.

Federal is based in Taoyuan, Taiwan, and operates a tyre plant there as well as in Jiangxi, China, the company's chief executive said.

Federal has established a network of overseas distributors in more than 70 countries, he added.

Central Trading Company was founded in 1957 and is among the core companies of the Al Rostamani Group, one of the largest and oldest business conglomerates in the country.

CTC offers a broad range of branded products like Michelin, Castrol, Blue Star, FB batteries, Midac batteries, Rock Automotive Refinishing Paints, Erlac Car Care Products, Alpha Beta Masking Tapes, CTC Water dispensers, Tetrosyl Chemicals, Japan Home Centre and products of automobile workshop supplier Förch.

Dubai is the largest hub for the tyre trade industry in the Middle East. Tyres for passenger and commercial cars valued at Dh4.4 billion were imported in 2008, according to the latest industry figures distributed at the Automechanika Middle East fair last year.

Almost half of the tyres were imported from Japan, while imports from China amounted for 20 per cent of the market.

About 50 per cent of imports were mainly re-exported to other Middle East and African countries.