According to Customs data, in the first half year, Shandong Province saw a rise in both volume and price of exported new pneumatic rubber tires (all products under Customs tariff schedule No.: 4011) where the growth of price was higher than that of volume; while the export to America fell, the grip over recovery of the European market and the expansion of emerging markets such as Nigeria and Mexico made up for the decrement to an extent. The total contribution rate of the three aspects to the increment of export was 79.4%. Tire export in Shandong Province turned for the better.
Among which, the export delivery volume was 110 million items, increasing by 7.1% year on year (same as below); the export delivery value was RMB 27.46 Billion Yuan, increasing by 18.1%; the average export price was RMB 240.5 Yuan per item, up by 10.2%.
Analysis of experts showed that the favorable performance in the European market and the vitality exhibited in the emerging markets drove the increase in tire export. The rise in prices of raw materials for tire production supported the increase in tire export price.
Judging from the export volume of major products in the first half year, the export of tires for motor passenger cars accounted for over 50% with an export volume of 63.03 million items, increasing by 7.5% with a proportion of 55.2%; it was followed by the export volume of tires for vans which was 27.26 million items, increasing by 3.1% with a proportion of 23.9%; the export volume of tires for motorbikes was 12.66 million items, increasing by 39.8% with a proportion of 11.1%; the rest were engineering mechanical tires, tires for agricultural use, bicycle tires, etc.
The target markets for export showed that EU, America and Nigeria were the top three export markets. In the first half year, Shandong Province exported 27 million tires to EU, increasing by 11.7%; 10.31 million tires to America, falling by 23.1%; and 6.908 million tires to Nigeria, increasing by 63.6%. The above-mentioned top three markets accounted for 44.1% in total.
In terms of monthly export data, the export volume remained steady and the average export price maintained a modest increase. In the first half year, except an obvious drop in the export volume of tires due to the Spring Festival factor in February, the export volumes of tires in the rest months were all about 20 million items, among which the export volume in June was 20.44 million items, increasing by 8.1% with an increase of 3.2% compared with last month. In terms of prices, the average export prices in the first five months showed a stepwise upward trend. The average export price in May was at the peak since October 2015, and that of June was RMB 246.2 Yuan per item, up by 16.8% with a decrease of 1.6% compared with last month.
The insiders hold the analysis that the falling unemployment rate in the Euro Zone and the continuous economic growth have uplifted the confidence of consumers in Europe, thus stimulating the consumption demand for automobiles. The recovery in the automobile market has directly driven the increase of tire export at home. In the first half year, Shandong Province saw an increase of 9.7% in tire export to EU. In the mean time, companies in Shandong are accelerating the diversification layout of the market, which has a remarkable effect on expanding emerging export markets. Factors such as high production costs or lack of product structure contribute to major market gaps in places like Nigeria and Mexico, which provides a new growth point to tire export in Shandong Province. Its tire exports to Nigeria and Mexico in the first half year increased by 63.6% and 37.2% respectively. Europe, Nigeria and Mexico contributed 79.4% to the export increase.
The market analysts believe that the rise in the price of raw materials and in the cost of tire production have driven the tire price to go up. Since last year, the upstream raw materials for tire - natural rubber and synthetic rubber - have seen a surge in prices. For instance, the price of standard rubber in Thailand has risen to USD 2,400 per ton from USD 1,500 at the beginning. The transaction price of natural rubber has increased by over 50%. In spite of the recent sharp fall in the price of natural rubber, tire prices have recently maintained an upward trend owing to the delay in price transmission brought by the cyclicity of production of orders for tires in addition to the lag of the influence of inventory cycle time of raw materials over the cost price of tires. Moreover, non-rubber raw materials like carbon black are undergoing a large increase in prices.
The characteristics of tire export in the first half year could also be shown in exporting tires of 90.15 million tires in the way of processing trade, increasing by 5.5% and accounting for 79%; and 23.12 million tires were exported in the way of ordinary trade, increasing by 13.3% and accounting for 20.2%.
