China’s tyre export unit price continues to rise

On 18 March, China Customs announced the export data for the first two months of 2023. In January, China exported 46.84 million new pneumatic rubber tyres with a total weight of 620,000 tons. The tyre export value of the month reached 10.97 billion yuan (approximately £1.3 billion; €1.48 billion).

In February, the three data all declined month-on-month. China exported 39.25 million tyres with a total weight of 560,000 tons. The export value was 9.73 billion yuan (about £1.16 billion; €1.31 billion).

The Chinese New Year holidays in 2023 were concentrated in January, and most of the holidays in 2022 were in February. The holiday time differs, resulting in a sizeable year-on-year change in monthly export data. The export data for the first two months show that China’s tyre exports continued the trend in 2022, with a decrease in export volume (down 4.4%) but a substantial increase in export value (an increase of 17.2%), which also means that in the first two months of 2023, the unit price of tyre exports is still on the rise year-on-year.

At the end of 2022, the Chinese tyre industry generally expressed pessimism about exports in 2023. However, the export figures for the first two months were reasonable. The 4.4% decline in the number of tyre exports is not tiny. But a premise we need to consider is that many Chinese tyre manufacturers increased their production capacity of overseas factories in 2022. Affected by multiple factors such as trade barriers, transportation distances, and raw material costs, these companies will most likely transfer international orders to overseas factories. The tyre companies with overseas factories are China’s leading companies. Therefore, China’s tyre export volume may further decrease.