Kazakhstan’s tire industry gears up to hit global markets

KamaTyresKz — a joint venture between Kazakhstan’s Allur and Russia’s Tatneft — has produced more than 300,000 passenger car tires since its launch in July 2024, according to Olzhas Saparbekov, Kazakhstan’s vice minister of industry and construction. He noted that the factory plans to expand its product range from the current 37 sizes for passenger car tires to over 100 various types, explore other segments and types and begin exporting Kazakhstan-made tires.

However, Saparbekov admitted that the producer still heavily relies on several types of imported raw materials.

Previously, the ministry reported that 30,000 Kazakh-made tires were produced in the factory’s first month of operation, beginning on July 1, 2024. The majority of the products were Attar-branded tires for passenger cars. The ambitious plan aimed to produce up to 1 million tires in 2024.

The $446.7 million-worth factory (according to the ministry’s evaluation) is supposed to produce 3 million tires for passenger cars and 500,000 truck tires annually. The project is expected to reach full capacity by 2027.

In mid-July 2024, the tire division of Tatneft announced its first deliveries to stores in Kazakhstan and Russia. The ministry, in turn, emphasized that the Kazakhstani plant cooperates with companies such as Allur, Astana Motors, Kia Qazaqstan, QazTehna and Kamaz-Engineering. In particular, JAC vehicles assembled in Kazakhstan have been equipped with Attar tires.

However, tire production is not the only achievement Kazakhstan can boast of in its automotive industry. On April 4, Agromashholding KZ — an agricultural machinery plant in Kostanay controlled by Allur — launched local production of John Deere agricultural equipment at its localization center.

Allur Auto is controlled by Andrey Lavrentyev, a Kazakh multimillionaire best known for acquiring ArcelorMittal Temirtau from Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal in 2023. In addition, he was ranked the 12th richest Kazakhstani by Forbes Kazakhstan, with a net worth of $840 million.