Update: Yokohama Rubber projects 'zero sales' from Russia in 2023

Tokyo – Japanese tire maker Yokohama Rubber Co. (YRC) has offered clarification for its Russian sales forecast, saying it is "difficult to to project annual sales in Russia owing to the situation in Ukraine."

In its financial projections, issued 17 Feb, YRC indicated that Russia will contribute zero to its regional sales composition in 2023.

This would compare to sales contributions of 2% and 4% from Russia recorded by the group for 2022 and 2021 respectively.

In a brief statement to ERJ 23 March, YRC said the 2023 projection column for Russia was left blank in its investor relations materials as it was hard to estimate the figure.

Last September, YRC confirmed to ERJ that it had resumed its tire operations in Russia having halted production there in March.

The temporary shutdown was “due to problems in procuring raw materials,” following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine on 24 Feb 2022.

Yokohama operates a passenger car tire plant in Lipetsk, Russia has a listed capacity to produce 1.6 million tires a year.