Bridgestone lifts tyre prices in Japan

Tokyo - Bridgestone Corp. will increase the prices of its tyres, tubes and flaps in the Japanese replacement market due to raw material costs.

Passenger car and light truck tyres will go up by 5.5 percent, truck and bus tyres by 8 percent, construction vehicle tyres by 10 percent and motorcycle tyres by 5.5 percent.

Tubes, flaps and other types of tyres will go up by 8 percent.

The increase will be implemented on 1 Feb, 2007, while winter tyres will go up on 1 Apr, 2007.

“Prices of raw materials for tyres, such as natural rubber, and petrochemical materials, such as synthetic rubber and carbon black, remain at high levels, while there had been temporarily downturn trends in natural rubber and crude oil prices in the markets,” a statement from the tyre maker said.

“Bridgestone has endeavoured to offset the rises in raw material prices through the increased productivity and enhanced efficiencies that it is continuously implementing,” the statement said.

“But those rises have proven too large and persistent to absorb entirely through internal measures,” the statement said.