ETRMA: A half of two quarters for Europe tire markets

Brussels – European sales of replacement passenger car and truck & bus tires recovered strongly in the second quarter, figures from the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) show.

In the three months to 30 June, ETRMA member companies reported a 5% year-on-year increase in sales of passenger car tires, to 49,154,000 units – in contrast to a 6% year-on-year decline in the first-quarter to 52, 353,000 units.

Similarly, ETRMA members’ sales of truck & bus tires grew 10% year-on-year to 2,478,000 units in the second quarter to cancel out a 10% decline to 2,366,000 units in the three months to March.

The see-sawing left passenger car tire sales at 101,507,000 units for the first six months of 2018 – just 0.7% below its level at the same stage last year – and truck & bus tires sales just 0.5% behind at 4, 845,000 units for this year’s first-half.

There was no such rebound in the agricultural tire market, where a year-on-year decline of 12.0% in the first quarter was followed by a drop of 10.0% over the three months to June. This left first-half, replacement tire sales in the sector at 696,000 units, 10.9% below the level of a year ago.