Triangle Tyre Co Ltd

The main natural rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at 20,645 yuan per tonne on October 9, up 2.89% on the day, with an intraday high of 20,775 yuan per tonne, marking a nine-year price high and a cumulative gain of more than 32% this year. Pan Shengjie, head of chemical research at Galaxy Futures, said the current strength is the combined result of weather expectations, reduced imports, higher synthetic rubber costs, spot prices following the rally, and a low warehouse receipt environment. The ANRPC's August report forecast global natural rubber production of 15.039 million tonnes in 2026 and consumption of 15.356 million tonnes, leaving a supply-demand gap of about 317,000 tonnes, compared with a gap of 77,000 tonnes forecast in the July report. Downstream tyre makers are under pressure. Sailun Tire, Linglong Tire and Triangle Tire all flagged the impact of rising raw material prices in their interim reports. Triangle Tire disclosed that its combined purchase prices for natural rubber, synthetic rubber, steel cord and carbon black rose 10.31% year on year and 13.36% quarter on quarter in the second quarter. Wei Yu, a senior analyst at CITIC Futures, noted that the three main raw materials for all-steel tyres account for about 70% of tyre production costs, and cost increases have continued to outpace selling prices, squeezing industry-wide gross margins. The market outlook remains bullish, but the margin for error has narrowed.

Triangle Tire disclosed its 2026 half-year report on the evening of August 26. First-half operating revenue was 5.085 billion yuan, up 6.42% year-on-year, but net profit attributable to the parent was 340 million yuan, down 14.11% year-on-year. Second-quarter net profit attributable to the parent was 122 million yuan, a sharp year-on-year decline of 46.8%. The company acknowledged the main reasons were the rapid rise in prices of raw materials such as natural rubber, compounded by the final ruling of the EU anti-dumping case and intensifying trade barriers. The company plans to invest 3.219 billion yuan to build a new project in Cambodia with annual production capacity of 7 million high-performance radial tires, in order to cope with international trade risks, but there will be no actual contribution in the short term.