Michelin releases tyre market data for March

ERJ staff report (DS)

Paris - Michelin has updated its website with tyre market data for the month of March. The new data shows that March was a poor month for tyre sales generally.

Michelin said the total European OE market for car tyres in the three months to March 2007 was up by just 1.4 percent, although the year-on-year figure for March was a fall of 8.8 percent. The site gives only percentage changes, not absolute numbers. The North American market was terrible, with the equivalent figures showing a decline of 10.6 percent for the three-month period and a year-on-year decrease in March of 27.6 percent.

In the replacement business, Europe continues to decline, with the three-month figures showing an fall of 3.2 percent and the one-month figures down by 12.1 percent. In North America, the replacement market fell by 2.0 percent in the first three months, and 9.5 percent in the month of March.

Chinese replacement sales continued to grow, with the increase in the year to date running at 18 percent.

In radial truck OE sales, Europe's growth slowed with a 8.3 percent increase in the first three months, slowed by a 2.5 percent decline in March. The appalling decline in North American truck OE sales is continuing, with sales in the first three months down by 28.9 percent, matched by a 29.2 percent decline in March alone. In Brazil, however, the first three months showed a healthy 23.8 percent gain, although the rate of increase may be slowing, with the figure for March up by just 14.6 percent.

Truck replacement tyres showed a similar tendency. European truck tyre markets were down by 8.4 percent in the first three months, reflecting an 7.1 percent decline in March. North America fell by 1.4 percent in the year to March, made worse by a decline of 3.2 percent in March. The Brazil market however, grew by 23.8 percent in the first three months with the March figure up by 14.2 percent. Japanese replacement truck tyre sales recovered from a disastrous January, with year-to-date figures up by 1.4 percent helped by a healthy 17.5 percent increase in the month of March.

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Press release from Michelin