CENTURY ENKA targets leadership in tyre reinforcement and man

Century Enka Limited (CEL), is primarily involved in the business of producing Nylon Tyre Cord Fabric (NTCF) for the Tyre industry, High Tenacity Yarn (HTY) for technical textiles and Nylon Filament Yarn (NFY) for the Apparel industry. The company offers a diverse product range of NFY comprising of mono filaments, mother yarn, Fully Drawn Yarn (FDY), Partially Oriented Yarn (POY), drawn textured yarns, dope dyed yarns, TOW, and draw wound yarns. CEL also makes customised tyre cord fabric for reinforcement of tyres, which are used in motorcycles, scooters, Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs), Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCVs) and Off The Road (OTR).

The demand for NFY is on the rise, given their wide ranging applications. Its properties compared to other textile yarns render this material more popular among customers. To strengthen its competitive position in the Tyre Reinforcement market, Century Enka is diversifying into Polyester Tyre Cord Fabric (PTCF) used in Passenger Radial Tyres. Alongside modernising its plant and augmenting capacities is under way.

CEL recently invested Rs. 86 crores, out of which the major portion was spent towards dipping capacity installation and expansion of Nylon Tyre Cord Fabric (NTCF) plant. This capex will significantly increase the capacity at both the plants resulting into increased scale of operations. To achieve the vision of becoming a leading and dependable company in the tyre reinforcement and man-made textile yarn industries, CEL plans to allocate large portion of the capex towards capacity expansion of value-added products such as Nylon Tyre Cord Fabric (NTCF) and Polyester Tyre Cord Fabric (PTCF) in the future. The company’s synthetic yarn capacity is 78,000 tonnes/annum.

CEL produces a broad range of High-Quality Nylon Processed Yarns for diverse application including fish-twines, conveyor belts, etc. The brand name ‘Enkalon’ is a testament to its high quality material, which gives a soft, lustrous and elegant feel to the finished fabric. The nylon processed yarn can be used for various weaving applications on high-speed latest generation machines. CEL spearheaded the introduction of jumbo beams for nylon yarn in India.

The company’s domestic market share for NFY was around 25% while that of NTCF was 23%. Revenue for the financial year increased by 72% year-on-year at ₹2,098 crores.

Industry Status

Within the synthetic yarn segment of the textile industry, the Company produces Nylon Tyre Cord Fabric (NTCF) and Nylon Filament Yarn (NFY). NTCF is used as reinforcement material in Bias/Cross ply tyres, which are primarily used in truck, bus, two-three wheelers, and off-the-road (OTR) vehicles used for mining, forestry, farming, heavy earth moving, etc.

ln FY22, demand for Commercial Vehicle (CV) picked-up, production of CV’s saw a growth of 19%. Production of tractors also maintained a healthy pace a marginal de-growth over last year’s record volumes. On the other side, sales of two wheelers remained depressed even in FY22 and saw a de-growth of 11%.

The Indian Tyre Industry witnessed good demand for tyres. The production of tyres for Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (MHCV) and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) registered a growth of 21% and 23%, respectively in first nine months of the year. Tyre production saw growth in all the categories during FY22. In addition to good OEM demand, tyre demand was supported by the record exports of tyres, restriction on tyre imports, Anti-dumping duty on import of truck and bus radial tyres from China and good replacement demand. Tyres exports for FY22 were higher by 50% as compared to FY21.

Nylon Filament Yarn (NFY) is mainly used in sarees, dupattas, dress materials and ethnic wears. NFY of high tenacity is used in varied technical application including fishnets, ropes, twines, luggage, innerwear, athleisure, etc.

NFY in India has witnessed strong traction in recent years. lt is a preferred yarn for ethnic dress materials and sarees having zari due to superior comfort, stretch, softness, touch, and easy dyeing.

—

“Our vision is to be the leader in the business of tyre reinforcement and man-made textile yarn with a clear focus on compliance, preserving the capital and value creation for investors and stakeholders through responsible sustainable business. Profitable growth, diversification, and opportunity-based expansion is always on your Company’s radar. Our enduring aim is to offer innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions.– Rajshree Birla, Chairperson, Century Enka