News

– The data for the first quarter of this year are a reflection of the economic situation and uncertainty that tyre distributors in Poland, but also throughout Europe, are experiencing. The slowdown is visible in all segments. We hope that the second half of the year will bring an improvement – so that tyre manufacturers, employing a total of over 11,000 people in Poland, can continue their investments and increase opportunities on the Polish labor market – emphasizes Jacek Pryczek, President of the Management Board of the Polish Tyre Industry Association (PTIA).

PZPO members are representatives of the largest tyre manufacturers in Poland and in the world. They represent an industry employing directly in our country over 11,000 employees in 6 factories and trading companies. Every day, more than 135,000 tyres with the inscription "made in Poland" for passenger cars, trucks, buses or agricultural and industrial machinery leave these factories.

"In many segments, we have returned to the sales levels for distribution from 2020– that is, from the time of the pandemic. In part, however, even below those minimums. You can see that there is uncertainty among distributors about what will happen in the middle of the year. We hope that this is a temporary state of affairs and that as inflation falls in the second half of the year, the market will bounce back – and, as in the case of cars, distributors will also adjust their purchases upwards with tyres. So there is a chance to improve the results from the middle of the year. On the other hand, however, the problem for factories is the high energy prices for the production of tyres. At these price levels for the industry, there is a danger of unprofitability of production in our country – adds Piotr Sarnecki, General Director of PTIA.

European tyre market

The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) has today published its members’ Q1 2023 replacement tyres sales figures, indicating a significant drop in demand compared to the same period last year.

Adam McCarthy, ETRMA’s Secretary General, said, “After negative trends in the second half of 2022, the sales volumes of ETRMA member companies in the first quarter of 2023 are down for all product categories compared to the first quarter of 2022.”

The replacement consumer tyres segment saw a decline of 12 per cent in Q1 2023 compared to Q1 2022. The replacement truck and bus tyre market also declined, by 18 per cent. There was a similar pattern for agricultural tyres, where sales dropped by 39 per cent compared to Q1 2022. Similarly, there was a drop in the sales of moto tyres, though by only three per cent.

McCarthy continued, “The drop has to be seen in the context of the ongoing high inflation in all European markets and the continued negative impact of the war in Ukraine, particularly on energy prices.”

Compared to Q1 2019, truck and bus tyre sales remained at the same level, but the sales of consumer replacement tyres dropped by four and a half percentage point.