Passenger tire imports up in Q3 but LT, TBR drop

WASHINGTON—Imports of passenger tires into the U.S. staged a bit of a revival in the quarter ended Sept. 30, but imports of light and medium-duty truck tires dropped for the third consecutive quarter by double digits.

Through the first nine months of 2023, imports are down in all the major categories, with medium truck/bus tires down the most, 29.4 percent, versus the same period a year ago, according to the latest Commerce Department data.

Imports of passenger tires rose 6.3 percent during the third quarter to 43.5 million units, largely due to double-digit increases in shipments from Thailand (up 44.4 percent), Vietnam (34.6 percent) and Malaysia (24.5 percent), as well as a tripling of shipments from Cambodia.

The average declared customs value of a passenger tire for the quarter was $59.96, up 2.5 percent over that in the 2022 period, in a range of nearly $50—$36.23 for Vietnam versus $83.43 for Mexico.

Imports of medium truck/bus tires plunged 36.9 percent during the quarter, to 4.23 million units, as only Canada among the 10 leading trading partners showed an increase (0.7 percent) over the corresponding 2022 quarter.

Shipments from Thailand—the No. 1 source of imported truck/bus tires and the subject of a Commerce Department antidumping investigation—fell 63.2 percent from the year-ago period, the largest drop among the 10 largest exporters of such tires to the U.S.

The average value of an imported truck/bus tire rose 10.3 percent to $190.02, the Commerce Department data shows. The range in values was more than $240 between the lowest (Vietnam at $131.25) and the highest (Canada at $379.79).

Truck/bus tire shipments from abroad for the nine months dropped to 12.7 million units.

Imports of light truck tires fell 12.2 percent in the quarter to 7.65 million units and 20.7 percent for the nine-month period to 22 million units.

Bucking the downward trend in the quarter were Thailand (up 12.7 percent), Canada (up 14.4 percent), Taiwan (up 13.9 percent) and Cambodia, which reported no shipments in the year-ago period versus 483,056 this year (good for fifth overall in the category).

For the nine-month period, again, only Canada shows higher shipments this year versus 2022.

The average declared value rose 4.6 percent to $83.02 for the quarter and was up to $94.42 for the nine months.

The drop in importing activity reflects in part the latest U.S. shipment forecast from the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association, which was scaled back from an earlier projection and is lower than 2022 shipments.

According to the USTMA's most recent forecast update (from August), total shipments this year—buoyed to an extent by higher original equipment demand—are expected to come up 2 percent short of the 2022 totals at 325.4 million units.

Broken down by category, the USTMA forecast for replacement market shipments show:

• Passenger, down 1.5 percent to 201.5 million units;
• Light truck, down 3.6 percent to 35.9 million units; and
• Medium truck/bus, down 16 percent to 22.4 million units.

While the new totals are lower versus 2022, the light truck and truck/bus shipment projections are up comfortably over those from 2019, the last full year before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the USTMA data shows.

The passenger tire total, however, falls 5.4 percent short of the 2019 total.

The USTMA traditionally updates its annual forecast in early December.