Finnish tyre maker defends continued Russian output

Helsinki — Finland’s Nokian Tyres says it will continue production in Russia to retain control of its local factory, at a time when many companies are halting operations in protest at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“By continuing to operate the passenger-car tyre factory in Russia we want to make sure that the factory is operated and controlled by Nokian Tyres also in the future,” it said.

The company also said the move would also help ensure its products weren’t used for military purposes.

Before the Ukraine war, Nokian produced about 80% of the 20-million tyres it makes a year in Russia. It makes passenger car tyres in Russia, while tyres for heavier vehicles are made in Finland and elsewhere.

Shares in Nokian fell as much as 13% on Monday, after Helsingin Sanomat daily and other Finnish media reported that the company had seemed to tell analysts in a call last week that it would seek to win market share from rivals that are exiting Russia, such as Michelin, Continental and Bridgestone, or those curtailing activities there, such as Pirelli.

Nokian denied this on Tuesday. “On Sunday, Nokian Tyres was in the spotlight in the media regarding an analyst call,” it said, saying it was now making a “correction to the media”.

Nokian CEO Jukka Moisio told Helsingin Sanomat in an interview published on Monday that the company did not want its Russian factory to end up “in wrong hands” to avoid its Russian factories being used to make tyres for the military.

“In our opinion it is better that the factory is in our control than in someone else's,” Moisio said.

Russia’s ruling party said this month a government commission had approved the first step towards nationalising assets of foreign firms that leave the country.

Nokian said it would seek to boost capacity more swiftly at its factories in Finland and in the US and would look for additional capacity elsewhere.

It said all tyres sold in the Nordic countries in future would be made in Finland and tyres sold in North America would be made in the US or Finland. It added that it aimed to make its manufacturing more geographically diversified.

Reuters