China’s tyre exports are less affected by the Lunar New Year holiday

In the first two months of 2024, China’s tyre export data was surprisingly good. In the past few years, the arrival of the Lunar New Year holiday has occasionally caused a significant drop in exports in one month compared to the previous year. For example, in January 2023, the number of tyre exports fell by 15.2 per cent year-on-year. In February 2022, the number of tyre exports fell by 15.6 per cent.

Lunar New Year 2024 occurred in February. Under normal circumstances, February’s single-month export value would also be expected to have declined by more than 10 per cent. Surprisingly, that wasn’t the case for the month’s data.

Compared with the same period in 2023, the number of tyre exports in February increased by 10.5 per cent. However, the export volume of heavier and more valuable tyres has declined. An intuitive expression is that the total weight of tyre exports was 550,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 2.3 per cent. Therefore, although the export volume increased by more than 10 per cent, the export value only increased slightly by 0.5 per cent year-on-year, reaching 9.8 billion yuan (approximately £1.07 billion; €1.25 billion). Considering the Lunar New Year, this growth is commendable.

From January to February, China’s tyre export volume reached 99.65 million units, a year-on-year increase of 16.2 per cent. During the same period, the value of tyre exports was 22.7 billion yuan (approximately £2.47 billion; €2.89 billion), an increase of 9.8 per cent.