China-based tire firm sees Cebu as vital hub

Even if Cebu only takes a small share of their market in the Philippines, it plays a major role especially in terms of logistics for their other markets in the south, said Gerard Tan of Southgate Express Marketing Inc., the distributor of Aeolus in Cebu and the Visayas.

“We have a Cebu office and warehouse. Logistically, Cebu is the ideal place to ship. It’s nearest among all Visayas islands. It’s very accessible,” said Tan in a recent interview.

In the Philippines, Cebu only takes less than 10 percent of Aeolus total market share.

Tan said that this was because their industrial tires were mostly used in major agricultural and mining areas in the country – both of which were not major industries for Cebu.

Despite this, he said that they were expecting to see continued improvement in the overall Philippine market especially with the current administration’s infrastructure thrust under the Build, Build, Build Program.

Between 2017 and 2018, Tan said they have managed to grow a respectable 20 percent in the Philippine market.

In previous years, he said they would only average an increase of between 5 to 10 percent.

“The Build, Build, Build Program has helped us grow our tire requirement from the construction industry. A lot of programs instituted by government needs good quality tires. We can feel the need for industrial tires has gone up,” Tan said.

Fu Trayqiang, vice general manager for international sales and marketing of Aeolus, said that as a whole, the Southeast Asian area is an emerging market for the company.