Value of U.S. tire imports increased 55% last year

WASHINGTON — One has to wonder: When, if ever, will the growth of imports of tires to the U.S. peak?

After gaining over 18% in value in 2021 over 2020, the value of imports last year shot up an unprecedented 54.9% over 2021, to $19.6 billion.

Much of the gain can be attributed to the medium truck/bus tire category, where units imported jumped 37.9% and the corresponding value rose 45.2%.

The increase also reflects the general impact of inflation and rising tire prices, as values were up measurably more than unit gains, according to Tire Business' analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce figures.

Combined with a slight drop in the value of tires exported from the U.S., the industry's trade deficit rose 28.3% to a staggering $14.5 billion.

Among the 10 major trading partners in the tire sector, the U.S. enjoyed a trade surplus with only one last year — Canada — although trade with Canada involves principally three companies, Bridgestone Americas, Goodyear and Michelin North America, which have factories in both nations.

Thailand — No. 1 in all three of the major tire trading categories (passenger, light truck and medium truck/bus) — registered a 17.6% gain in trade valued, to $3.56 billion, and now accounts for 18% of the overall tire import trade business.

The value of imports from Mexico to the U.S. shot up nearly 21% last year to $1.89 billion, vaulting it to No. 2 status behind Thailand. Canada, No. 2 in 2021, fell to fourth this year after the value of its exports to the U.S. fell 4.5% to $1.59 billion. Japan claimed third with a 46.2% jump to $1.72 billion, based in large part on double-digit increases in shipments of passenger, light truck and medium/truck bus tires to the U.S.

China held onto the No. 5 spot with $1.29 billion in imports, up 7.2% over 2021.

As previously noted, imports of medium truck/bus tires ramped up throughout the year, eclipsing 2021's shipments by a whopping 38% to a record 23.9 million units.

Thailand led the sector again, shipping 44.6% more truck/bus tires than in 2021. Its shipments of 10.2 million units are more than three times the number of No. 2 Vietnam and account for nearly 43% of all imports.

Vietnam was no slouch last year, either. Its exports to the U.S. jumped 61% to 3.07 million units.

A large percentage of truck/bus tires imported from Thailand and Vietnam are from the subsidiaries of Chinese tire makers such as Double Coin, JGST, Linglong, Prinx Chengshan, Sentury and ZC Rubber.

Of the 10 largest trading partners in the truck/bus tire sector, all but one, Canada, increased their exports to the U.S. by double-digits. Granted, a great deal of the imports are being brought in by companies with U.S.-based manufacturing (i.e., USTMA members), but a measurable amount of imports from Thailand, Vietnam, China and India fall into the "true" import category.

The average value (declared customs value) of an imported truck/bus tire increased 5.3% last year over 2021 to $170.83. By contrast, the value of a truck/bus tire from Thailand actually declined slightly, 0.1% to $132.45.

The average value of an imported truck/bus ranged from $116.43 (Colombia) to $300.99 (Canada), the Commerce figures show.
While shipments of passenger and light truck tires were up over 2021, the pace of growth was measurably lower than that of the previous few years — up 4.9% and 4.8%, respectively.

As noted, Thailand was the No. 1 source of imported passenger and light truck tires, although shipments from the Southeast Asian nation fell short of their 2021 levels, by 8.6% and 10.5%, respectively.

Mexico continued at No. 2 among offshore sources of passenger tires and No. 4 for light truck tires, but like Canada, the bulk of shipments from Mexico are from affiliated companies of Bridgestone, Goodyear/Cooper and Michelin, as well as Continental Tire the Americas and Pirelli Tire North America Inc.

• The average value of an imported passenger tire jumped 13.8% last year to $56.38, the largest year-to-year increased tracked by Tire Business over the past couple of decades.
• The scale of prices among the largest trading partners in this sector ranged from $37.50 (Vietnam) to $71.53 (Mexico).
• In the light truck sector, Vietnam closed the gap to No. 1 Thailand with a 26.5% increase in shipments, versus Thailand's 10.5% drop. Other gainers in the category were Philippines, up 32.9%, and China, up 23.2%, the latter despite the continued elevated import duties on tires from there.
• The average value of an imported light truck tire rose 6.5% to $78.18, the data show.
• Prices of imported light truck tires ranged from $57.17 (Philippines) to $111.11 (Japan).
• The overall value of exports fell 2.7% last year to $5.14 billion, while unit exports dropped 7.8%.
• Canada and Mexico represent two-thirds of the U.S. tire industry's exports by value. The largest trade surplus the U.S. has in tires is with Australia, at over $360 million.