WASHINGTON-Wholesale prices of passenger and truck/bus tires (including light truck) fell overall in April from March levels, according to the Labor Department's Producer Price Index. The price of a radial passenger tire fell 0.3 percent on average in the month, while prices of all-season models slid 1.4 percent.
Compared with the year-ago month, prices of passenger radials were up 0.8 percent.
Overall, prices of truck and bus tires slipped 2.2 percent in April, from the month before, though virtually all of the decrease was attributable to a 4.9-percent drop in the price of light truck radials.
Prices of pneumatic industrial and utility tires, which climbed 6 percent in March, grew another 0.9 percent in April, and were 7-percent above the year-ago level.
Tread rubber prices, which have steadily increased in recent months, were unchanged in April, but remained 12.1-percent ahead of year-ago prices.