Sameer Africa to Distribute Tyres in Sudan

By Eddyson Lugangwa Posted 03 July 2006 @ 12:46 pm EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

Kampala (IBTimes.com) - Sameer Africa will set up a tyre distribution centre in Sudan as part of its push for the regional export market. Sameer Africa managing director, Eric Kimani, said key officials from the company would in two weeks tour the country with a view to setting up a distribution hub in Khartoum and Juba .

The foray into the Sudanese market follows the granting of the Comesa certification allowing the company to export its tyre products into the Sudan.

Sudan is the latest target market by Sameer Africa after Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Rwanda and Mozambique, where it has already gobbled a 40 per cent share of the market. Locally, Yana tyres enjoy a 70 per cent share of the market. Kimani further revealed that Sameer is eyeing Egypt and South Africa as the next export destinations. Since its launch eight months ago, Yana brand of tyres has been well received in the market. Between April and June this year, the Yana brand accounted for 71 per cent of the total sales units in Kenya.

In Tanzania and Uganda, the new brand has shown strong market interest. Kimani attributed the sharp rise in sales volumes of Yana tyres to the full written warranty on the product, the strong countrywide distribution network, technical suitability of the product to local road and load conditions. Other factors include the countrywide technical back up service offered by Sameer Africa customer service engineers and aggressive sales and marketing efforts. Yana is present countrywide and is represented in all major tyre categories from passenger car tyres, light, medium and heavy commercial tyres, agricultural and off-road tyres.