BRUSSELS (Oct. 14, 2014) — European tire manufacturers had mostly stable sales in the third quarter of 2014 after a strong first half, according to statistics from the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA).
Only agricultural tires fell during the quarter, shipments dropping 9 percent to 386,000 units from the 424,000 recorded in the third quarter of 2013, the ETRMA said.
Shipments of truck and bus tires were unchanged from the 2013 third quarter at 2.55 million units, it said. Passenger tire and motorcycle/scooter tire shipments increased 1 percent each to 58.4 million and 1.8 million units, respectively.
Agricultural tire shipments were flat for the first nine months of 2014 compared with the same period of 2014, at 1.35 million units , according to the ETRMA.
All other sectors were up for the period: passenger tire shipments up 5 percent to 156.9 million; truck and bus tires up 6 percent to 6.87 million; and motorcycle/scooter tires, up 7 percent to 7.39 million.
The trends were in line with what the ETRMA reported for the first half of the year.
