Facts section: imports
Made in China. And Indonesia.
And Taiwan... Consumer tire imports
are up 15.5%
C
hinese consumer tire imports were down 27.6% last
year compared to 2009. Passenger tire imports were
hit particularly hard, dropping from 38 million units
to 27.4 million units (see Chart 3).
It’s easy to pinpoint the reason for the dramatic decreases.
A series of tariffs, which went into effect on Sept. 26, 2009,
are directly responsible. In the 15 months since they were
implemented, consumer tire demand in the United States
has outpaced domestic supply.
After depleting their inventories in 2009, some domestic
tire manufacturers have tried to catch up by returning to 24/7
schedules. They also increased plant capacity by 1%.
It wasn’t enough. Because the tariffs — which dropped
from 39% to 34% on Sept. 26, 2010 — drastically reduced
Chinese produced tires, tire manufacturers and marketers
Chart 3
U.S. CONSUMER TIRE IMPORTS FROM CHINA
(in millions)
Year
Units
Yr./yr. change
2010
31.1
-27.6%
2009
43.0
-7.5%
2008
46.5
+14.8%
2007
40.5
+50.0%
2006
27.0
+28.0%
Source: U.S. government, MTD figures
Chart 4
U.S. CONSUMER TIRE IMPORTS BY COUNTRY
2010 Rank/
country
2009 rank
% change vs.
2009
1. China
1
-27.6%
2. S. Korea
4
+81.0%
3. Canada
2
+10.0%
4. Japan
3
+34.0%
5. Indonesia
5
+78.0%
6. Thailand
8
+77.5%
7. Mexico
6
+44.5%
8. Brazil
7
+9.6%
9. Taiwan
9
+118.0%
10. Germany
11
+17.0%
The top 10 countries account for 92% of all
passenger tire imports in the U.S.
32
turned to countries such as South Korea and Indonesia (see
Chart 4). The result? Overall consumer tire imports to the
U.S. were up 15.5% in 2010 vs. 2009. Still, China remained
the number one importer.
“Tire production in the U.S. increased 15%, or about 25 million tires, in 2010 vs. 2009, and employment increased slightly,
but at a much lower rate than the increase in production,” says
Saul Ludwig, a managing director with Northcoast Research
Holdings LLC. “So the USW can certainly claim victory.
“However, because imports from countries other than China
increased even more than those from China decreased, there
were other influences that may better explain the increase in
production. Inventories (in units) that had been chopped by
30% in 2009 had to be rebuilt, and actual tire demand also
increased. In my opinion, those factors trumped the tariffs
as the principal reason for the increase in production and
employment.”
Both the United Steelworkers union and the Alliance for
American Manufacturing (of which the USW is a member)
say domestic tire production is up and jobs have been created
because of the tariffs. The Tire Industry Association believes
there is no reliable data to support the claim that the tariff
has protected tire manufacturing jobs.
Either way, the production of low-cost radial consumer tires
in the U.S. has not increased, and may never return. In addition,
consumer shipment numbers from China are not anywhere
near as low as predicted. The International Trade Commission
estimated the tariffs would decrease shipments anywhere from
38.2% to 58.4%. Many opponents of the tariff legislation claimed
shipments would drop to almost nothing. ■
Chart 5
U.S. TRUCK TIRE IMPORTS
FROM CHINA
440,000 bias (11%)
3.56 million radial (89%)
Source: U.S. government, MTD figures
MTD January 2011