Our view: ‘Other tires' are anything but trivial

Every year, Tire Business devotes an issue to "Other Tires" — agricultural, construction, earthmoving, industrial, recreational, trailer, motorcycle, lawn/garden, aircraft etc.

While some might question whether using "Other" to summarize this section — perhaps trivializing it in a way — the editorial staff feels just the opposite. While the products that collectively make up this grouping pale in comparison in unit terms to the more mainstream consumer and commercial products, they by no means are any less significant.

Dealers who embrace products covered by this grouping know the challenges in dealing the products — namely:

• having knowledgeable staff on hand to help customers sort through the myriad options;
• the investment in specialized equipment to handle tire-fitting in the field;
• being on call 24/7 because operators of equipment needing such tires can't afford downtime;
• having dedicated staff on hand willing to work in extreme weather and/or terrain conditions to help a customer; or
• finding affordable and convenient warehousing space for products that can tower over the heads of those handling them and weigh thousands of pounds; etc.

Mentioning that the majority of tires sold in these categories are used in key sectors of our economy — agricultural/forestry, construction, mining, etc. — should be unnecessary.

Our cover story on St. Louis Wholesale Tires chronicles some of these challenges.

Those who might question the need for a special report on this topic need look no further than the amount of business activity in these tire categories of late:

• Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd.'s acquisition of Trelleborg Wheel Systems — a $2.3 billion price tag for a business with $1.3 billion in annual sales;
• the establishment over recent years by foreign-based specialized tire makers of U.S. distribution subsidiaries (think Ascenso Tyres, CEAT Specialty Tires, Ferrentino Tyres, GRI Tires, Magna Tyres, Maxam Tyres, Tiron Tires, etc.).
• the solid business footing of a number of domestic companies dedicated to producing non-mainstream products, like: Carlstar Companies, MITCO, Setco, Superior Tire, Specialty Tires of America, Titan Tire, etc.

Or consider that collectively, imported products identified by Tire Business as "other" tires represent $3 billion in customs value (roughly equal to wholesale value) after registering double-digit sales growth the past two years.

In many categories, imports represent a large portion of the entire market. Think specialty ST trailer tires, agricultural implement or motorcycle tires.

And don't forget sticker shock: The average declared custom value of a construction/industrial tire, 24-inch and larger rim diameter, was $1,559 last year, with products from Japan averaging $2,907.

All in all, anything but trivial.