ETMRA
Sales of car, truck and two-wheeler tyres amongst European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association members increased year-on-year during the first quarter of 2016, however agricultural tyre sales continued to decline.
One of the chief criticisms of the European tyre label since its introduction in November 2012 is the absence of effective third-party control; abuse is inevitable in a system that allows tyre manufacturers to evaluate their own products. The Market Surveillance Action on Tyres 2015 (MSTYR15), a project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon2020 programme and coordinated by the Product Safety Forum of Europe (PROSAFE), aims to bring accountability into tyre labelling.
The rubber industry associations of Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain with the support of the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) have launched a campaign providing information on the general rubber goods (GRG) industry and the challenges it is facing.
On 26 January, the European Commission announced the launch of GEAR 2030, a High Level Group that aims to address the challenges facing Europe’s automotive industry. The European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) states that it “welcomes” the Commission’s decision to set up GEAR 2030, adding that it “looks forward to contributing constructively to identifying those policy and legislative interventions that are needed to indeed boost the competitiveness and growth of the automotive industry.”
The European tyre market is up, but imports are growing too, meaning ETRMA members are not benefiting from the increase as much as others. At the same time, the retread market decreased for the fourth consecutive year, and in 2015 it expected to plunge a further 10 per cent to 4.2 million tyres.
On 6 October the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) ran a workshop on the role of “innovative educations tools” in bridging the skills gap in the rubber industry.
Following on from the publication of European tyre sales figures relating to car, truck and agricultural products sold in the first half of 2015, European tyre association ETRMA has also release two-wheel tyre demand data. In short, the performance of the two-wheel sector appears to be somewhere between the relative success of car and truck tyres, but not as bad as the declining agricultural tyre figures of the first report.
Increased demand for new car purchases has led to increased tyre demand across Europe, according to the latest data released by the European Tyre Manufacturer’s Association. The ETRMA statistics reveal that consumer OE tyre sales were up 12 per cent, while truck tyre OE was up a 21 per cent. The association linked this increase directly to new vehicle OE growth, which in the case of passenger cars, grew 14.6 per cent in the period.
The association representing tyre manufacturers in Europe says its members experienced “mixed results” in the region’s replacement market during the first quarter of 2015. While companies belonging to the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association sold more passenger car tyres (up 1.9 per cent to 52,120,000 units) and motorcycle tyres (up 6.6 per cent to 3,297,000 units) in the first quarter of 2015 than a year earlier, both truck and agricultural tyre sales were down compared with the corresponding period in 2014; ETRMA members’ truck tyre sales decreased 0.74 per cent to 2,158,000 units and agricultural tyre sales dropped 12.8 per cent to 436,000 units.
On 26 January the LRCCP, DIK and CERISIE rubber laboratories from France, Germany and Italy respectively signed up to the ERRLAB – an informal network rubber research and testing in rubber facilities. As a result of the move more than 100 highly rubber specialized doctors, engineers and technicians are committed to the project.
The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association reports that its members’ car, truck and two-wheel tyre sales increased year-on-year in 2014, while agricultural tyre sales were down. Results for the fourth quarter alone were less positive, and the ETRMA comments they “further confirmed the downturn in sales registered in the third quarter of the year.” The exception to this was sales of motorcycle tyres, which remained positive all the way through 2014. The association opines that the lower results towards the end of the year may be linked to lacklustre winter tyre sales due to the mild winters experienced on the continent for the last couple of years.
Unit sales for tyre makers belonging to the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers Association were stable in on-road segments during the third quarter of 2014, while the agricultural segment experienced a year-on-year decline. Unit sales of passenger car tyres increased 1.4 per cent to 58,409,000 pieces, a development the ETRMA attributes to a growth in new car registrations. Commercial vehicle tyre unit sales remained relatively flat, declining only 0.23 per cent to 2,552,000 pieces, while two-wheeler tyre sales were up 0.90 per cent to 1,797,000 units. The only area of the market where ETRMA members saw major movement was in the agricultural segment, and this was movement of the unwelcome variety, as unit sales dropped 8.97 per cent to 386,000 pieces.
European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) has appointed Continental’s executive vice president Christian Kötz and Thierry du Granrut, from the Syndicat National du Caoutchouc et des Polymères as president and vice president respectively, effective 1 January 2015.
The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA) has published figures showing that is members experience sales increases across all segments in the first half of 2014.
The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA) has welcomed first quarter 2014 figures compile from members’ sales and showing the years has got off to a good start. However, we also have to remember that the comparison with the same period 2013 is putting the figures against a low base.
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