China’s tyre export growth slows in July

The growth trend seen in China’s tyre exports throughout 2023 continued in July, albeit at a slower rate of year-on-year growth than seen earlier in the year. China’s tyre makers exported 56.89 million tyres in July 2023, 4.7 per cent more than a year earlier. The value of these exports increased 9.4 per cent year-on-year, to RMB 14.02 billion (£1.5 billion, US$1.9 billion).

From January to July 2023, China exported a total of 356.97 million tyres, a year-on-year increase of 6.6 per cent; the export value of RMB 86.1 billion yuan (£9.4 billion, $11.8 billion) represents a year-on-year increase of 18.6 per cent.

Future growth trend opaque

As our Chinese sister site Tyrepresschina.com notes, the slower growth in export figures makes it more difficult to judge the direction China’s tyre exports will head in the coming months. Just a year ago, in July 2022, the country’s tyre exports reached their highest values of the year in both volume and value. Both values subsequently fell. Monthly data after July 2022 showed significant year-on-year declines for several consecutive months.

However, in the first half of 2023, China’s tyre exports were generally good. The slower rate of growth seen in July does not necessarily indicate that China’s tyre exports will continue to weaken. The lower growth may also be due to unusually high exports in July 2022.

Benefiting from a drop in shipping costs and the decline in the RMB exchange rate against the US dollar, China’s tyre exports surged in the first half of 2023. Many tyre manufacturers such as Linglong, Doublestar, and Sentury have reported strong overseas market orders, with demand outstripping supply.