The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association published on April 14 the tyre replacement sales figures of its members for the first quarter of 2016.
The table below shows a good level of activity on the EU market in the beginning of the year compared to 2015, leading the industry to forecast a certain stability in the sales trends for the rest of 2016. This is despite the very mild winter that led to low winter tyre sales.
However, the performance of agricultural tyre sales remains negative. The slowing down of imports also confirmed the shrinking of the agricultural tyre market. The notable exception is India, whose exports to the EU increased by +1%, despite the general decrease of EU imports (-19%).
More generally, the pressure from imports remained high in 2015:
- The overall EU imports of truck and bus tyres increased by +10%. China remains the main exporter tothe EU, with an increment of +12%.
- With regard to consumer tyres, their imports in the EU also increased by +6% and those from China didby +9%.
Chinese exports to Europe have been consistently growing in recent years (see charts in Annex). “This is despite a decrease of Chinese exports of 4%” said Ms.Cinaralp, Secretary General of ETRMA.”This confirmsthe high exposure of the European tyre market to competition from third countries, whilst other parts of the world are putting in place protective measures.”