Tire price hikes sweep the world, and if you don't order, your costs will soar
Foreign capital started, 32 price increase notices flooded into the market
The price increase in 2025 was started by foreign capital, expanded by Chinese giants, and eventually formed a full-blown price increase.
In 2024, foreign giants such as Michelin took the lead in announcing that the purchase price of tires in 2025 would increase, and it was not the price of passenger car tires that increased, but the price of truck and bus tires, light truck tires and off-highway transportation business line products! The increase was as high as 8%! It directly shocked the dealers!
On a certain wholesale e-commerce platform, a 12R22.5 tire of a leading foreign brand like Michelin is priced at around 2,300 yuan. It is only a 3% price increase, and the purchase cost of each tire has increased by at least 70 yuan in 2025. Even if only 200 tires are purchased at one time, the purchase cost of only one brand will increase by nearly 1.4 million, not to mention that the price increase of some tire products is as high as 8%.
In addition to Michelin, Bridgestone, Continental, Pirelli, Dunlop and other foreign-funded leading tire companies also announced product price increases at the end of 2024 or early January 2025 - up to 3% and 6%. However, since these tire companies are currently only in the passenger car tires and two-wheel tires in the Chinese market, passenger car tire dealers are under great pressure in January. If foreign capital raises prices, can dealers purchase more Chinese brand tires? In theory, it is possible, but in fact the cost is not low.
In January 2024, Senqilin's price increase notice made it clear that it would increase the purchase price of its products by 3% to 10% on February 1. Of course, although the number of truck tire price increase notices in January was small, it was not absent. Zhongce Rubber clarified the different price increase times and price increase ranges for different TBR products in February in the price increase in January. However, the real truck tire price increase trend is concentrated in March. In March, a number of tire companies including Linglong Tire, Doublestar Tire, and Bayi Rubber announced the price increase of truck and bus tires in mid-to-late March.
The price increase is generally 3% to 5%. In February, the most aggressive price increase was from inner tube manufacturers. According to incomplete statistics, in February 2025, a total of 7 domestic tire companies issued notices of inner tube price increases. The price increase of inner tubes is much more "bold" than that of passenger car tires and truck and bus tires. Guizhou Boda Changxing, Runtong Rubber and Fengxin Minyao Rubber directly announced a price increase of 5%.
However, after Chaoyang Junye and Chaoyang Huaxing Wanda Tires increased their prices by 3% on February 17, they announced further price increases of 3% and 5% on March 7 respectively. The price increase of inner tubes will be even more terrible in 2025.
In addition, due to the higher demand for raw materials for off-road tire products, under the "high cost pressure" of more than 16,000 yuan per ton of natural rubber, tire companies with a high market share in the off-road tire market, such as Guizhou Tire, Double Coin Tire, Triangle Tire and Sailun Tire, successively raised the prices of off-road tire products in early March.
However, it is interesting that the publishers of the price increase notices from January to March are almost all companies with strong influence in the industry. It can be seen that without clarifying the trend of domestic market demand, small and medium-sized tire companies still maintain the "small profits but quick turnover" model, trying to grab market share in the domestic market first with low prices.
As for profits, for small and medium-sized enterprises, most of the profits still come from overseas markets with relatively high "price tolerance". According to the tire export data released by the General Administration of Customs on February 18, the price of single tires exported by China in February 2025 increased by 12.83% month-on-month.
In fact, a 10% price increase can truly solve the cost dilemma of tire companies. This also means that even if Chinese tire companies have gritted their teeth and raised prices to 5% in the past three months, the cost crisis has only been alleviated rather than resolved, and prices will rise again in the next nine months.
Since February 26, when tire factories successively issued price increase notices, the operating rate of all-steel tires in Chinese factories has remained above 68% for six consecutive weeks! Dealers are queuing up to purchase goods. In fact, it is not only domestic dealers who are scrambling for orders, but also overseas dealers who have joined the rush to buy. In 2025, global trade instability factors continued to grow. The US market has already imposed a 20% tariff on Chinese tires, and will also start a high tariff mode for Canadian and Mexican tires. In addition, the European market is also continuing to "eyeing" Chinese tires.
Therefore, before the more terrible tariff measures were issued, and under the consensus that "prices will continue to rise in the future", global dealers started to place orders widely. Many Shandong tire companies revealed that this year's overseas orders are often more than tens of millions of yuan; Yongsheng Rubber, one of the "big guys" in Dongying, even had export orders worth more than 700 million yuan (5.1 billion yuan) in the first three months, and a single order from Germany was worth as much as 30 million yuan. Dongying Hongsheng Rubber's overseas orders increased by 20% year-on-year, of which the value of one overseas order reached at least 63 million yuan. Chinese tire dealers are not only competing with domestic counterparts for orders, but also competing with overseas dealers in speed.
Under the crazy orders of tire dealers, the operating rate of tire companies with certain influence in the industry has almost reached more than 90%. Weifang Yuelong Rubber's all-steel tire production line continues to run at full load. "Don't lie! Natural rubber prices are starting to fall, how can tire factories continue to raise prices?" It is true that natural rubber prices have fallen, but the driving factors behind the price increase are not just cost. In 2025, the tire business, at least in terms of demand, has begun to pick up!
Hurry up and stock up, it will be expensive and difficult to grab in the next 9 months
The market recovery even occurred in the expected relatively cold all-steel tire market. In 2025, the "contributor" to the full-load operating rate of Weifang Yuelong Rubber's all-steel tires is the strong demand in the logistics and transportation industry.
In 2025, the signal of real estate recovery has been clearly released - pushing the real estate market to stop falling and stabilize. The continuous advancement of urban renewal will continue to drive the increase in transportation demand and bring more sales opportunities to the truck tire replacement market.
At present, some stores have felt the acceleration of truck tire sales. In mid-January, it took 48 days to sell a truck tire, but by last week, the truck tire delivery cycle had dropped to 40 days, and the tire sales speed was accelerated. It is expected that as transportation demand continues to rise, the tire sales cycle will accelerate. Judging from the current tire factory order schedule, in April, it is not that the goods cannot be sold, but that they cannot be ordered at high prices.
