CEAT Kelani Holdings (Pvt) Ltd has announced in a public statement that it will increase the price of its tyre products by 11.8 per cent.
Admitting that a shortage exists due to import restrictions, the company says that they would increase production to meet market demands.
However, a company statement noted that from Dec. 24, 2020, import restrictions only applied to tyres of 12 and 13 inch rim sizes as well as to tyres of trishaws, motorbikes and scooters.
CEAT Kelani Holdings announced another significant increase in production that will more than double the number of Truck Bus Radial (TBR) tyres reaching the domestic market by June this year, further supporting the national effort to reduce dependence on imports and conserve foreign exchange.
The company said production of the CEAT Winmile AW in the 10.00 R 20 size widely used on trucks, prime movers and buses would, in two phases of expansion, increase from 18,000 tyres a year to 40,200 a year.
This gives CEAT the ability to supply 42% of the local requirement for these tyres.
Incidentally, the CEAT Winmile AW tyre is the only Truck Bus Radial tyre produced in Sri Lanka, and is the result of a phased execution of a LKR 3 billion investment begun by the company three years ago to expand product range, capacity and quality across multiple tyre categories.
However, the company said that it has been compelled to increase the prices as the cost of raw materials have gone up significantly and there was a shortage of some essential raw material which had to be imported.
Sri Lanka is facing a severe shortage and price hike in tyres as a direct result of the government’s import restrictions without providing any substitutions, industry leaders said.
Leading local tyre manufacturing companies have increased the price of tyres pushing local motorists from the frying pan into fire.