According to the Global and Chinese Automotive Aluminum Wheel Industry Report, released by Research and Markets, the Chinese wheel export reached US$4.382 billion in 2011. Steel wheels accounted to US$696 million with a 40% growth and aluminum wheels reached US$3.886 billion with a 24.8% increase, thus setting new records in the industry.
For aluminum wheel manufacturers in China, 2011 has been a profitable year with their major export destinations being the UAE, Germany, Russia and the U.S. Among the markets, U.S. occupied approximately half of the overall shares. The US automotive sector experienced strong recovery, especially in heavy truck and light truck, which needed large-diameter wheel hubs with price higher than passenger cars.
The increasing oil price is promoting the recovery of economic situations in the Middle East and Russia and is also increasing the aluminum wheel aftermarket, particularly in Russia. Russia is the major export terminus of small-and medium-sized aluminum wheel companies in Zhejiang province, China.
Though EU charged anti-dumping duties on China-made aluminum wheel, Chinese automotive firms were still competitive. CITIC Dicastal that mainly deals with exports to Germany gained export value of US$417 million in 2011, which is an increase of 20.9% from US$345 million in the year 2010.
The report includes market review, analysis on China aluminum wheel market and steel wheel market, ranking of global aluminum wheel manufacturers and profiles of leading players, including Alcoa, Accuride, Asahi Tec, Lizhong Wheel and Zhejiang Jingu.
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