Financial Times

CEAT earns Rs. 530m from 3,700 mt of tyre exports

Tyre maker CEAT's Sri Lanka operation notched up another milestone last week, with the export of its 555th container of locally manufactured tyres. This container went to India. Harsh Goenka, one of India's leading industrialists and Chairman of the $ 1.5 billion RPG Group -- CEAT's parent company -- ceremonially flagged off the container at the CEAT-Kelani factory in Kelaniya.

The container of 14 MT of tyres worth Rs. 2 million brought CEAT's cumulative exports from Sri Lanka to 3700 MT in 16 months. Export earnings from these exports aggregated Rs. 530 million.

"We are very pleased with the progress of CEAT in Sri Lanka, which is the first venture of the RPG Group in this country," Goenka said. "Exports will become an increasingly significant contributor to CEAT's revenue and profits as production capacities and processes are enhanced."

CEAT's Managing Director Oscar Braganza said, "Exports have increased the capacity utilization of our resources and manufacturing facilities at CEAT Sri Lanka which have given better economies of scale."

CEAT, which commenced operations in Sri Lanka in 1993 as a joint venture with Associated Motorways (AMW), entered into a strategic alliance with Kelani Tyres in 1999. The company manufactures tyres at two locations, at Kelaniya and Kalutara.