Yokohama Tire Corp. plans to increase prices on all of its tires sold in the U.S., including all consumer, commercial, and off-road units, by up to 7% starting April 1 – a move necessitated by a number of cost factors, noted Rick Phillips, Yokohama’s vice president of sales.
“This pricing action is necessitated by the high cost of raw materials and freight expenses that have impacted us in 2016 and will continue to be a factor in the business,” Phillips explained in a statement.
He added that some “in-line adjustments” across consumer, commercial and OTR lines will be determined within the month.
The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) noted earlier this month that 2016 concluded “by witnessing a rebound in natural rubber prices in the fourth quarter, driven by recovery in crude oil market, supply concerns mainly caused by floods in South Thailand, renewed expectation of a U.S.-led faster global economic recovery and the resultant improved demand outlook.”
The group noted that during the three years from 2014 to 2016, global supply of natural rubber – including supply sourced from non-ANRPC nations - fell by an average annual rate of 0.6%, while demand grew at 3.2%.
Based on preliminary estimates covering all countries, including non-ANRPC, global supply of natural rubber stood at 11.975 million tonnes during 2016, which was short of the corresponding global demand by 655,000 tonnes.
“The faster growth in demand helped to absorb the excess supply generated until 2013 and bring favorable balance between demand and supply,” the group added.
