MARCO ISLAND, Fla.—Shipments of off-the-road tires in the U.S. are expected to rebound this year after plunging 21 percent last year.
That's according to Tim Easter, director of OTR sales at Yokohama Tire Corp., who delivered the industry's annual OTR tire trends report during the Tire Industry Association 2014 Off-the-Road Tire Conference on Marco Island.
Easter based the forecast on expectations that the U.S. and Canadian economies will show signs of growth this year, even if growth is limited to just a couple of percentage points.
He said shipments should rise about 4.3 percent this year after two years of decline—13 percent in 2011 and 21 percent last year. The market should keep growing through 2017, Easter added, but only by a few percentage points a year.
In a separate presentation, Dick Gust, president of national accounts for Liberty Tire Recycling L.L.C. and co-chairman of TIA's Environmental Advisory Council, put the market at about 3 million units a year, with the construction segment accounting for more than three-fourths of the market.