Ceat rolls first radial unit in Lanka

Tyre major Ceat today started the first radial tyre plant in Sri Lanka with an installed capacity of 26,000 tyres a month.

The fully automated, temperature and humidity-controlled unit is located at Kelaniya, near Colombo, and will cater to both the domestic and export markets.

The plant will initially focus on two ranges of radials "� for cars and vans "� and later expand to other segments.

Ceat India Managing Director Paras K Chowdhary said, "The plant has the latest technology such as electro-pneumatic machine that requires just one operator for the entire sequence of commands to the monitoring progress. The entire plant operations are fully air-conditioned and humidity-controlled in the sea-locked country."

The facility will produce T-rated steel-belted radial tyres with high durability polyester carcasses and a specially designed tread patterns for Sri Lankan roads.

The customised tread patterns will cater to most of the car and van models available in the country.

"This locally produced radial tyre will be of international standard and will look like any other high-end imported tyre. As the demand grows, we will increase the production capacity to one lakh a month by next year. We will source our export needs from this plant for the south Asian markets by harnessing the free-import norms allowed by the Sri Lankan government," Chowdhary said.