Tire Market - U.S. Tire Imports Take a Downturn, with the Trade Deficit Exceeding 10 Billion USD

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The U.S. leads the way in global imports of tires, accounting for an 18% share (based on USD). It was followed by Germany (9%) and France (5%). U.S. imports on the global tire market totaled 15,221 million USD in 2015, which was 352 million USD (2%) less than the year before.

From 2007 to 2015, U.S. tire imports showed mixed dynamics. A significant drop in 2009 was followed by robust growth over the next three years, until imports leveled off through to 2015, with small fluctuations near 15 billion USD. In 2010, U.S. tire imports exceeded their pre-recession level of 2007.

Leading the global imports, the U.S. remains one of the most attractive destinations for overseas suppliers.

China was the main supplier of tires into the U.S., with a 22% share of total U.S. imports in 2015, based on USD. It was distantly followed by Canada (11%), Korea (10%), Japan (10%), and Thailand (8%). Imports from China displayed steady growth, but the decline of 2015 led to only a moderate average annual rate of +2.6% from 2007 to 2015. Thailand and Korea were fast-growing suppliers (+16.6% per year and +7.5% per year, respectively), and Canada nearly returned to the outset level over the same period. From 2007 to 2015, Thailand and Korea strengthened their positions in the U.S. import structure by +4 percentage points and +1 percentage points, respectively, while the other major supplying countries saw their shares reduced.

From 2007 to 2015, the U.S. was a net importer of tires. Moreover, imports grew faster than exports on average over the period under review.

Net U.S. tire imports showed an upward trend over the period under review. In 2015, this industry ran a massive trade deficit of about 10 billion USD.

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• tire market share
• tire prices
• tire industry
• tire sales
• tire market forecast
• tire price forecast
• key tire producers

Source: U.S. Tire (Except Retreading) Market. Analysis And Forecast to 2020