Tyre markets continue to grow in March

Tyre markets continue to grow in March
21 April 2011

Milan, Italy -- Pirelli has updated its website with tyre sales for the month of March and the first three months of 2011. The recovery boom appears to be slowing in south America, while Japan and other countries saw significant declines in March, almost certainly due to the effects of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.

The company reports car and truck tyre sales still growing around the world. The company reports only percentage changes, not absolute numbers.

Pirelli said European truck tyre replacement sales increased by 16 percent in the first three months, but the March figure was up by 7 percent compared with a year ago. European OE figures showed an increase of a massive 77 percent in the year to date and 70 percent in March.

OE truck tyre sales in the NAFTA region increased by 57 percent in the year to date, helped by 61 percent growth in the most recent month. On the replacement side the increase is 23 percent in the first three months and 24 percent in March. The Mercosur region saw the OE sales up by 1 percent in the first three months but down by 12 percent in March. Replacement sales were up by 12 percent in the three months and 7 percent in March.

Truck tyre sales data for China is not yet available. Replacement sales in Japan showed 21 percent growth over the first three months of 2011 but a decline of 18 percent in the month of March.

In the car and light truck segment, European OE sales were up by 7 percent for the first three months, but were unchanged from a year ago in the month of March. Replacement sales were up by 8 percent in the year to date abut down by 1 percent in March.

North American (NAFTA) sales of car and light truck tyres also grew. On the replacement side, sales in the three months were up by 7 percent, and up by 5 percent in March. On the OE side, the first three months saw growth of 16 percent, while March sales increased by 19 percent. In the Mercosur region, OE sales were up by 8 percent in the first three months but down by 1 percent in the month of March. Replacement sales were also weaker, down by 2 percent in the year so far and sales were the same as a year ago in the month of March.

Sales data from China were not yet available and will be updated in the coming days. Japanese sales of replacement tyres increased by8 percent in the first three months and by a remarkable3 percent in the month of March, following the disasters affecting the country.