U.S. tire imports slow in third quarter

WASHINGTON — The pace of importing passenger and truck/bus tires into the U.S. slowed measurably in the third quarter after growing by double digits in the first and second quarters, according to the latest Census Bureau data.

Imports of light-truck tires, on the other hand, continued to grow exponentially in the quarter and year-to-date, up 31.5% over 2023 in both periods.

According to the data, imports of passenger tires were off 0.3% during the third quarter, falling to 43.4 million units, while imports of truck/bus tires fell 2.7% from the 2023 period to 4.11 million units.

The downturn in passenger and truck/bus tire imports in the quarter cut into the pace of importing for the year-to-date through September for those two categories, leaving passenger tire imports 4.7% ahead of 2023 at 125.9 million units and truck/bus imports up 13.1% over 2023 to 14.3 million units.

Worth noting; the average value of imported tires fell measurably across the board, the Census Bureau data show.

In the passenger tire category, the average declared customs value for the 9-month period slipped 3.2% to $58.21; in light truck tires, it fell 16.1% to $79.23; and the medium truck/bus average value dropped a whopping 35.7% to $182.41.

These declines coincide with the emergence of Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam as growing sources of imported tires. The value of products imported from those nations is consistently lower than the average and nearly always the lowest among the top 10 countries tracked by Tire Business on a quarterly basis.

Thailand is the No. 1 source of imported tires in the three major categories, the data show, accounting for a quarter of all passenger tire imports, 22% of light truck tires and nearly 40% of truck/bus tires.

That concentration should increase even more in the coming months and years as Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. shifts production of car, truck and motorcycle tires from its now idled Tonawanda, N.Y., factory to its plant in Amati City, Thailand.

The Buffalo-area factory's capacity was listed as 12,000 passenger/light truck tires per day and 2,300 truck/bus tires a day.

Collectively, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam now account for 39% of passenger tire imports, 46% of light truck tire imports and 60% of truck/bus tire imports.

Worth noting: the steady rise in imports from this triad of nations coincides with the construction of tire plants primarily by Chinese companies, especially in Cambodia, where Chinese tire makers Sailun Tire Group, Jiangsu General Science Technology Co. Ltd. (JGST) and Doublestar Group have opened plants and there are at least two others Shouguang Firemax TyreKenda Rubber CoLinglong GroupToyo Tire Corp.