Recently, the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that China's production of rubber tire casing in July 2024 was 91.08 million, an increase of 7.6% year-on-year and a slight decrease of 2.32 million from June.
From January to July, China's rubber tire casing production reached 615.682 million units, up 10.3% year-on-year. In 2024, the overall order volume of the tire manufacturing industry was strong, and production and sales continued to reach new highs.
Tire market is still in the amalgamation of ice and fire
However, the demand in the tire market is also mixed, mainly reflected in the obvious imbalance in production and sales of PCR tires and TBR tires.
According to relevant statistics, in July 2024, China's PCR tire production was 56.95 million, a slight increase of 0.04% month-on-month and a year-on-year increase of 3.94%. Most PCR tire companies continue to operate at high levels to meet order demand.
However, in July, China's production of TBR tires was about 11.83 million, a month-on-month decrease of 2.47% and a year-on-year decrease of 5.59%. The weakness of the TBR tire market is mainly due to insufficient national transportation capacity, which directly drags down the supporting and replacement market demand, and export orders have not been significantly boosted.
It can also be seen from the operating rate of TBR tires that the order performance of tire factories is weak, the overall increase is limited, the downstream agents' inventory is slowly being digested, and there is a strong bearish sentiment towards the future market.
However, the semi-steel tire market has an optimistic outlook, supported by the increasing number of vehicles in use. In addition, with the rapid growth in the market share of new energy vehicles, the tire replacement rate has also increased accordingly. Affected by these objective factors, the phenomenon of ice and fire in the tire market will exist for a long time.
Strong export support
China's tire exports also continued to remain strong. Customs statistics show that in July, the country exported 60.6 million new pneumatic rubber tires, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%. From January to July, the country exported a total of 391.5 million new pneumatic rubber tires, a year-on-year increase of 9.9%.
In July 2024, the country exported 715,857 tons of automobile tires, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%. From January to July, the country exported 4,570,485 tons of automobile tires, a year-on-year increase of 4.9%.
From the perspective of exporting countries, countries with large passenger car tire export volumes include the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, etc.; Countries with large truck and bus tire export volumes include Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Russia, etc.
The above is only the domestic tire export data. The production and sales of China's overseas tire factories have continued to increase in recent years. With the commissioning of new factories, overseas tire exports are becoming the main channel for domestic tires to be sold globally.
Production and sales may decline in August
In August, a survey of relevant platforms showed that the domestic PCR tire production capacity utilization rate has declined slightly, and both domestic replacement and export volumes are expected to decline. The overall output in August may decline slightly month-on-month.
In July, the country welcomed the peak of snow tire shipments. As overseas snow tire shipments came to an end, some PCR tire companies saw a decrease in subsequent export orders in August and their production schedules were lowered. But overall, the current domestic demand for PCR tires remains stable.
However, the TBR tire market remains sluggish, domestic infrastructure investment is slow, and industries such as industry and mining are under-operated. At the same time, demand in the freight market is weak, profitability is poor, and the domestic market for TBR tires is under severe pressure. According to relevant sources, 17 TBR tire factories plan to suspend production and go on holiday in August. The average number of holidays is about 9 days, which is expected to affect tire production by 476,000 tires.
DLFTECH is a professional equipment marketing & service company built by a senior R&D and marketing team in the tire & conveyor belt equipment industry. Benefiting from the rapid follow up of the international rubber industry's process re-engineering and the demand for industrial intelligence, DLFTECH, the best of the best, has rapidly developed into a new star in the international rubber machinery industry.
If any tire or conveyor belt industry customers need such as electron beam irradiation system, tire mold intelligent laser cleaning system, hydraulic curing press for PCR/TBR, etc., please feel free to contact info@delphygroup.com.
