There are price increases and there are price increases. Anyone who has observed the tyre market for long enough will be aware that what it says in the book and what customers pay are often two different things. Firstly when someone like a bank says “price increases” they are referring to the proportion the price the vendor receives for their tyres increases relative to its prior level. And secondly due to the volatility of raw material commodity markets and other associated input costs any predictions are libel to change and even cancel each other out. Sound like teaching grandma to suck eggs? Perhaps, but the latest round of price increases issued by swathes of tyre producers highlight these principles in spades. Higher prices do not necessarily mean higher costs to buyers on the one hand and, if they do, this does not automatically mean more profitability for those issuing the prices increases.