News You Can Use

RTA NEWS YOU CAN USE
September 18, 2015

My friend George Pehanick of RTA member EAST BAY TIRE COMPANY wrote an interesting article for the California Tire Dealers Association TIRES & TREADING member newsletter and we are posting the portion of the article regarding Chinese truck tires, shown below. It is worth reading. If you wish to contact George he can be reached by email at gpehanick@eastbaytire.com.

Why don't we have tariffs on Chinese truck tires? We have tariffs on Chinese passenger, light truck and earth mover tires. I'm not debating whether the tariffs are right or wrong. I'm just asking why the truck tires have avoided the tariffs so far? No doubt the Chinese have captured a significant percentage of the market. Some say as much as 35-40%. The number is really impossible to track. Why? Simply because not all Chinese imported tires are reported to RMA. Oddly enough the majors Michelin, Bridgestone, Goodyear and Continental have wanted to kid themselves about the impact of the Chinese imports for years. I remember, not too terribly long ago the majors didn't even acknowledge the units they were losing in the Central Valley (of California) by the tens of thousands. I call it the majors' arrogance. It's driven much in part by corporate cowardice. But that's another rant for another day. Ag haulers were literally buying them by the container loads, at costs hundreds of dollars less than the majors. Frankly, it made sense.

We take care of some very large Ag fleets. The trailer tires stay on the trailers for seven years. The trailers only run albeit hard for 4-5 months a year, often in and out of tomato and carrot fields. They rot off before they ever wear out. The used tires, roughly half treads, get sold in Mexico. So much for NAFTA. No doubt, while this was going on, General Dunlop and Kelly were losing units. But, nobody sounds the alarm. Now, it is not unusual to see Chinese tires on some independent long haulers. And, you certainly see them on all kinds of urban or regional operators. So-Cal, in particular, is inundated with Chinese imports. Of course, Long Beach Harbor is ground zero for Chinese imports. The Chinese will buy distribution in North America. They are already in Europe. Majors wake up! Pull your collective heads out of the sand and get a plan before it is too late. Or is it already too late?

A NOTE FROM HARVEY: The above article is provided for your reading interest. We do not agree or disagree with the above, but we provide it as a public service from the Retread Tire Association. If you care to comment on our reasons please send your comment to info@retreadtire.org.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Take care of your employees
and they will take care of you.
~ Joseph Clerou