US Tyre Shipments Up?

With the year almost at an end, the Rubber Manufacturers Association now predicts that overall tyre shipments in the U.S. will be up “slightly” in 2007 vs. 2006. RMA says total tyre shipments will increase 2.7% vs. 2006, a year that saw the market drop anywhere from 3% to 7%, depending on the source. The increase, says RMA, will come despite a heavy decline in OE tyre shipments and “are a reflection of revised U.S. economic growth forecasts for both the consumer and commercial sectors.”

Specifically, RMA sees the replacement passenger segment growing 3.3% to 203 million tyres; the replacement LT-metric segment growing by 600,000 units to 34.2 million tyres; and the medium truck segment dropping 2.7% to 16.4 million units. On the OE side, P-metric shipments will drop 4.5% to 46 million tyres; LT-metric will fall 12% to 4.4 million tyres; and OE medium truck will drop 31% to 4.7 million tyres. RMA has not yet issued its final 2006 tyre shipment data.