Yellowsea tires recently received their Standard National Indonesia (SNI) certification, a significant step forward in Qingdao Yellowsea Rubber Co’s move to enter the Indonesian market. Indonesia is the world’s fourth-largest country by population and its tire market is one of the ASEAN countries’ biggest. The country demands that all tire manufacturers obtain SNI certification if they want to enter that market, to keep foreign tires from flooding the market and to protect its own tire industry. This trade barrier is considered too high for many foreign manufacturers so they have shunned it.
Because of the sluggish demand in the European market in 2012, markets in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia have taken on new importance and have become the new tire battlefields. Qingdao Yellowsea Rubber has attempted to increase its tire exports and, to prepare for the Indonesian market, began paying closer attention to its standards and technological requirements. It also increased communications with Chinese tire dealers and registered its new Liba trademark in Indonesia to speed up the application process.
Indonesian inspectors visited Yellowsea during the evaluation process, January 14-18 of this year, to study tire quality, the production site, management, materials, and warehouse control and inspected the production facilities. After a strict evaluation, they reached the conclusion that quality management at Yellowsea was reliable and that it deserved SNI certification. It expects to get the certificate by mid-March and could begin exporting its tires to Indonesia by the end of March. Entering the Indonesian market will mean an increase in Yellowsea’s competitiveness and will help increase its share of the global tire market.