WASHINGTON — Historic growth of tire imports to the U.S. finally peaked last year, plunging by double digits in some segments as demand slowed.
Thailand maintained its hold as the top tire exporter to the U.S. last year, and Cambodia emerged as a growing source of tires for U.S. customers.
While tire imports gained 18% in value in 2021 over 2020, and 54% in 2022 over 2021, that metric fell 4.8% in 2023 to $18.7 billion.
Imports of medium truck and bus tires decreased 27.3% last year. Imports from Canada, the fourth largest exporter of truck/bus tires to the U.S., were down 3.6%, but every other country was down at least 17%. The average declared customs value of a truck/bus tire was $188.72 in 2023, up 10.5% over 2022.
Imports of light truck tires fell 10.5%. The average declared customs value of a light truck tire was $81.54 in 2023, up 4.2% over 2022.
Passenger tire imports, on the other hand, increased by 1.1% in 2023. The average declared customs value of a passenger tire was $59.70 in 2023, a gain of 5.9% over 2022.
The decline in imports reflects overall numbers in North America. As historic demand of the last few years has slowed and dealer' inventory has backed up, 2023 reflected that destocking across the industry.