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From Kapila Somaratna, Panadura Group Correspondent

Sri Lanka has steadily maintained its position as the largest solid tyre exporting country. the solid tyre is a specially manufactured tyre, which caters to the off-road vehicles such as forklifts trolleys and other indoor and outdoor vehicles.

However, there is a new chapter brought about by Eu-Retec (Pvt) Ltd by introducing the export of re-built solid tyres to the world market. Eu-Retec first started with a small-scale factory in Ekala-Ja-Ela by three German professionals who were in the forefront of the solid tyre manufacture in the country.

Due to various constraints the process was running at a low ebb. Anurath Abeyratne, a well-known entrepreneur and industrialist of Panadura rescued a dying process.

The entire business was resurrected and a bold decision was made to transfer the entire operation to Kalutara, a location where Sisil refrigerators were built for generations. The sprawling complex encompasses the entire requirement for a rubber manufacturing process which includes mixing, buffing of used tyres, tyre building, under the most stringent quality control set up.

The new project at Kalutara, a BoI approved project is approved by the Urban Development Authority and the Central Environment Authority of Sri Lanka.

The Quantum brand which is marketed by Solitec GmbH, the marketing arm of Eu-Retec in Germany, is a highly accepted solid tyre in the Europe and the Americas for its equal and matching quality and for the environmental friendliness, being re-cycled.

The re-built tyre has been tested for all functionalities and been through as good as a new built tyre. "When entering this relatively new side of industry, our main aim was not only to enter into a high value adding industry for the export market, but also to help and substantiate the workforce of a dying but pioneering industry and create more job opportunities for people in the Kalutara district where education levels are so high and unemployment is so rampant" said the Managing Director and Chief executive of Eu-Retec Anurath Abeyeratne.

Eu-Retec has ventured into the manufacture of new tyres and their brands are gathering popularity in the most important markets in Europe and USA.

The state of the art manufacturing plant in Kalutara will cater to the demand of re-built tyres as well as new tyres with a very high capacity level, which will boost the country's export portfolio in the very near future.

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