Tire giants announce sales in 2024
The specialty tire market is very bad in 2024. Even the leading tire companies with great advantages in this market segment have given a "pessimistic" report, and even said that their sales of specialty tires in 2024 will be lower than expected.
Tire sales fit forecast
On January 7, 2025, French tire manufacturers disclosed the production of their products in 2024. Among them, the sales forecasts for passenger car, light truck and truck and bus tires are basically consistent with the global tire sales performance in 2024. The statement shows that the sales of specialty tires in 2024 dragged down the overall production and sales of tires.
Although the 2024 annual report has not yet been released, the manufacturer revealed that its passenger car tire sales in 2024 are expected to increase by 2% year-on-year, and the supporting and replacement businesses are "ice and fire".
The coldness of the automobile OEM business in 2024 has also been transmitted to the business of tire manufacturers-in 2024, the supporting business has declined, especially in the third quarter, and the supporting demand in Europe has shown a significant decline. Therefore, the "hero" that helps the passenger car tire business to show growth is the replacement market.
Michelin said that except for the Chinese market, Michelin passenger car tire replacement sales are "modestly growing". Michelin speculates that the continued growth in the European market may be related to the sales of winter tires and all-season tires in Europe.
Truck and bus tire sales are expected to fall by 2%. The global economic recovery will still be slow in 2024, which will lead to the global replacement demand for truck and bus tires not effectively recovering. The tire manufacturer said that the truck tire supporting business has declined from 2023, and replacement sales have "slightly increased" under stable cargo transportation demand.
Special tire production may fall by 5%
However, Michelin's special tire business seems to have a more sluggish sales performance in 2024 than expected.
Its report said that sales of businesses including mining, off-road, two-wheel and aircraft tires and "polymer composite solutions" are expected to fall by 1-5% year-on-year, higher than the previously expected decline (0-4%).
The decline beyond expectations means that the performance of this market in 2024 may be worse than expected. Previously, many specialty tire manufacturers said that because some agricultural machinery and mining machinery prefer to choose the top brands, the sales of the top brands are often used as a barometer of this market.
This also seems to imply that if the top brands fail in this market, the sales performance of the companies with the following market share will be worse. This not only makes the industry begin to worry about whether the large acquisition of the specialty tire business of Yokohama, a Japanese tire manufacturer that has been heavily involved in the specialty tire business in the past three years, is safe.
However, judging from Yokohama's third quarter report, its performance is still good. In terms of the market, Michelin mining tires have maintained the basic demand level, and customer inventory has gradually decreased. This seems to mean that sales in this market segment are expected to pick up in 2025. One of the factors leading to the decline in sales of specialty tires is the decline in sales of off-road tires in 2024. Not only has the demand for off-road tires "declined", but its replacement demand has also declined slightly due to the slow economic recovery.
However, Michelin's sales in the two-wheel tire market are very good - the global market has achieved moderate market growth, with more active sales in the Americas. The growth of aircraft tires has normalized and returned to pre-2020 sales levels, and China's aircraft tire sales have rebounded significantly.
"Polymer composite solutions", including conveyor belts and other material solutions, reported "overall market weakness", partly due to the high reference base in 2023, and many industries are reducing inventories.
Off-road tire investment
Although at the beginning of 2024, more than one tire company has given pessimistic expectations for specialty tire sales. On the one hand, specialty tires have seen a wave of upward cycles from the second half of 2021 to 2023, and the year-on-year sales decline in 2024 is also expected; on the other hand, the overall decline in the economic environment and the rise of Asia in the specialty tire business have also put great pressure on the industry.
However, as the market inventory is digested, specialty tire sales are expected to recover in 2025.
