Michelin releases tyre market information for January

ERJ staff report (DS)

Paris - Michelin has updated its website with market data for the month of January.

The new data shows that January was a mixed month for tyre sales generally, with US original equipment markets continuing to be affected by poor demand.

Michelin said the total European OE market for car tyres in January was up by 6.4 percent over the same period a year ago. Last month, the company said European OE sales grew by 4.5 percent in the twelve months to December 2007. The site gives only percentage changes, not absolute numbers. For North America, the equivalent figures were a decline of 0.4 percent this January compared to last. IN December, Michelin said OE sales fell by 1.8 percent for the twelve-month period. 

In the replacement business, Europe was significantly weaker, with the January figure showing an increase of just 1.1 percent, compared with a twelve-month decline of 1.6 percent reported in December. In North America, the replacement market increased by 6.3 percent in January, compared to a 3.0 percent in the twelve months to December. Chinese replacement sales were up by 18 percent in January.

In radial truck OE sales, Europe continued to show rapid growth with the January figure up by 8.8 percent, about half the growth of 18.6 percentreported for the twelve months to December 2007. The appalling decline in North American truck OE sales continues to accelerate, with sales in January down by 33.7 percent, even worse than the decline of 32 percent seen in the 12 months to December 2007. In Brazil, however, growth in January was 12.5 percent -- the same as the December growth figure. Both were substantially lower than the 34.5 percent gain reported in the 12 months to December

Truck replacement tyres showed the opposite tendency. European truck tyre markets were down by 8.9 percent in January, though markets had been up 2.8 percent in the twelve months to December.  North America reported a small (2.4 percent) improvement in the January sales, which reversed the downward trend (2.0 percent) of the year to December. The Brazil market however, powered ahead by 29 percent in January, even better than the 16.5 percent growth seen in the twelve months to December. The decline in Japanese replacement truck tyre sales reported last month accelerated sharply, with January-January figures down by 34.4 percent, more than wiping out the 0.2 percent in sales for the whole of 2007.

This is an external link and should open in a new window. If the window does not appear, please check your pop-up blocking software. ERJ is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Press release from Michelin