Shandong tire export volume down, price up

Qingdao Customs released Feb. 23 the figures of tire exports from Shandong port in Jan.

Shandong port exported 21 million tires in Jan., down 3.9% year on year; and the export value was 4.92 billion yuan, up 7.5%.

The average export price was 234.4 yuan/tire, up 11.9% year on year, but was down 1.4% from the previous month.

Exports to major destinations decrease

EU, the US, Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia were the major export destinations of tires from Shandong province, and the combined export volume accounted for 51.1% of the province's total.

Except Mexico and Saudi Arabia, the export volumes from Shandong port to the other destinations in Jan. all dropped.

The tire exports to EU, the US, Nigeria and Brazil were 5.24 million, 1.76 million, 1.31 million and 776,000, down 4.8%, 10.8%, 17% and 24.8% year on year, respectively.

Motorcycle tire exports drop sharply

Passenger car tires exported from Shandong port in Jan. was 12.05 million, down 0.5% year on year, accounting for 57.4% of the total.

During the month, 4.93 million truck and bus tires were exported from the port, up 1.3%.

But the motorcycle tire export was down 14.8% to 2.27 million.

Processing trade: the major method of export

Shandong port exported 13.54 million tires in terms of processing trade in Jan., down 18.4% year on year, accounting for 64.5% of the total tire exports.

The port exported 7.29 million tires in terms of general trade, up 43.7%, accounting for 34.7% of the total.

Over 70% tires exported by private producers

Private enterprises exported 15.88 million tires from the Shandong port in Jan., down 4.6% year on year, accounting for 75.6% of the total exports.

Foreign-invested enterprises exported 3.29 million tires, down 1%; and state-owned enterprises exported 1.84 million tires, down 3.1%.

Stricter environmental protection supervision, tight supply of rubber additives and other raw materials, and high cost of carbon black products raised production costs of tire producers, and accordingly led to fewer export volume and higher export price.

In addition, depreciation of US dollars in Jan. weakened the competitiveness of Chinese tires in the US market. The situation also restrained tire exports recently.