Tatneft's Ikon Tyres plant operating at over 50% of capacity

MOSCOW. Aug 12 (Interfax) - Tatneft's Ikon Tyres plant in Vsevolozhsk is operating at more than 50% of capacity this year, the head of the Russian oil company's tire division, Andrei Pantyukhov said at a press conference on Monday.

"Before the 2022 crisis, the plant operated at full production capacity, producing more than 16 million tires. As I already mentioned today, two thirds of our plant's production were exported to more than 40 countries. When we stopped being part of the Finnish company, we lost these export volumes, so it's not surprising that capacity utilization fell sharply in 2022-2023. Last year the plant operated at about one third capacity, but this year we have already significantly increased capacity utilization. It amounts to more than 50% this year," Pantyukhov said.

He also said the plant will ship a record number of tires to the Russian market this year. "We will supply a record amount of tires, such that we never supplied in previous years, because there were certain restrictions and quotas on the distribution of our production volume for our home market, Russia, and for export. Now these restrictions don't exist, we can orient ourselves to the market and thus there is a chance to increase our share," Pantyukhov said.

The tire plant in Vsevolozhsk, which Finland's Nokian Tyres opened in September 2005, has 14 production lines with capacity to manufacture 17 million tires per year. In March 2023, Tatneft closed a deal to acquire the Finnish company's tire business in Russia, including 100% of Nokian Tyres LLC, Hakka Invest LLC and Nikian Shina LLC, for 285 million euros. Tatneft later rebranded this business to Ikon Tyres.