Landscape of Chinese Tires on US Market

Since the United States imposed heavy duties on passenger and light truck tires imported from China last year, tire imports from China has declined 53.2 percent, according to Tire Business.

The gap has been almost filled by all the other Asian countries that enjoy low cost advantages, as indicated by the statistics released by the U.S. Department of Commerce(DOC).

Meanwhile, U.S. imports of medium truck and bus tires from China rose 6.3 percent in 2015 from the previous year, hitting a record 8.91 million units. However, the U.S. is conducting antidumping and countervailing investigations into truck and bus tires imported from China.

US Passenger Car Tires Imports from China Fall in Prices and Amounts

The U.S. imports of passenger car tires from China dropped from 50.42 million units in 2014 to 22.6 million units in 2015, according to DOC statistics.

Meanwhile, the U.S. imports from Thailand, Indonesia and the Republic of Korea surged by 67.3 percent, 44.3 percent, 21.4 percent respectively. Imports from Taiwan increased 18.8 percent and those from Vietnam soared six fold. Compared with those in 2014, imports from these Asian countries and areas increased by nearly 20 million units.

Over the years, Indonesia and Thailand witnessed the operation of five new tire plants,including the Thailand factories of Chinese tire producers Shandong Linglong Tire Co., Ltd., Hongzhou Zhongce Rubber Co., Ltd., and Qingdao Sentury Tire Co., Ltd., and the Indonesian factories of Hankook and Maxxis Tires. Sumitomo Rubber Industries of Japan and VEE Rubber Group of Thailand also expands their capacities.

Exports from Chile and Mexico to the U.S. showed double digital increases of 25.3 percent and 15.4 percent respectively.

In general, U.S. tire imports rose 0.4 percent to a record high of 149.5 million units in 2015. Imports from U.S. brands overseas production bases such as Canada, Japan, Mexico and Germany took up a quarter of the total.

Statistics show that the average declared value for customs of U.S. passenger car tires fell from 51.55 USD/unit in 2014 to 51.03 USD/unit in 2015. The value declared for tires imported from China suffered the largest decline of 11.3 percent (4.06 USD) to 31.90 UDS/unit.

US Light Truck Tires Imports from Taiwan Priced Highest

In 2015, U.S. light truck tire imports declined 6.4 percent to 24.3 million units, due mainly to a fall of nearly 3 million units imported from China. Light truck imports form Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan and Mexico registered double digit growth.

Canada remained U.S. largest import source of light truck tires in 2015, with 7.53 million units imported by the U.S., down 18 percent.

In 2015, the average declared value for custom of U.S. light truck tires dropped by 4.5 percent (3.24 USD) to 72.37 USD/unit. The average declared value of tires imported from Vietnam was 53.51 USD/unit, the lowest of all, while that from Taiwan was 102.06 USD/unit, the highest of all.

US Truck Tires Imports from China Priced Lowest

In 2015, U.S. truck and bus tire imports kept rising for the third consecutive year. China remained its largest source of imports. Imports from China rose 6.3 percent to 8.91 million units, representing 62 percent of the total.

The average declared value for customs of U.S. truck tires fell from 172.16 USD/unit to 161.36 USD/unit. Of the top ten sources of imports, the price for tires imported from China was the lowest at 120.22 USD/unit and the price for truck tires imported from Italy was the highest at 318.63 USD/unit.

US Imports of Other Types of Tires Increase

The U.S. imports of agricultural tires increased 3.9 percent in 2015 to 2.19 million units. The average declared price for customs stood at 131.02 USD/unit. Imports from China and India took the top two places, with 1 million units and 646,000 units respectively.

The U.S. OTR tire imports dropped 8 percent to 2.62 million units. The average declared price for customs came to 254.94 USD/unit. Imports from China, Sri Lanka and India topped among all countries, with combined amounts of 2 million units.

The U.S. solid tire imports increased by 5.07 million units, with an average price of 42.05 USD/unit declared for customs. Imports from China and Sri Lanka took the bulk share, with 2.56 million units and 2.1 million tires respectively.

The U.S. imports of steel cord tires for specialized trailers increased 43.9 percent to 17.90 million units, with an average price of 15.18 USD/unit declared for customs. Imports from the Chinese mainland accounted for 87.4 percent, with 15.7 million units. Imports from Taiwan Province was 1.13 million units.

The U.S. imports of motorcycle tires increased 2.9 percent to 3.04 million units, with an average price of 49.57 USD/unit declared for customs. Thailand, the ROK, Japan and Indonesia were the major sources of imports.

The U.S. imports of aircraft tires came to 268,936 units, with an average price of 405 USD/unit declared for customs.

Exports of Some US Homegrown Tire Brands Improve

The U.S. local tire manufacturers reversed lackluster performance in 2015. Exports of U.S. light and heavy truck tires increased 11.7 percent and 33.9 percent respectively. The exports of passenger tires dropped 5.3 percent.

Canada and Mexico were the major destination of U.S. exports, taking up 80 percent of U.S homegrown passenger tire exports, 64 percent of U.S light truck tire exports and 95 percent of U.S medium truck tire exports.

Across the board, U.S tire imports declined 4.5 percent to 14 billion USD and its tire exports declined 15.6 percent to 4.33 billion USD, representing a trade deficit of 9.69 billion USD.

The U.S suffered trade deficits to its major tire trading partners including China, Canada, Japan, the ROK and Thailand.

The U.S. tire trade deficit with China reached 2.77 billion USD and that with Japan and the ROK arrived at 1.44 billion USD and 1.39 billion USD respectively. It suffered 1.13 billion USD tire trade deficit with Thailand, 854 million USD with Canada, 670 million USD with Indonesia and 458 million USD with Taiwan.

The U.S. posted tire trade surplus with Mexico in 2015, with 1.11 billion USD of tire exports and 760 million USD of tire exports.