Magazine for the professional tire industry
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MTD January 2015 Farm and OTR tire markets Compared to 2013, the replacement farm tire market was down a litle and the replacement OTR tire market was up a litle. But both sufered greatly at the OE level. Radial rear OE farm tire shipments were down more than 17%, from 380,000 units to 315,000. Bias rear OE tire ship- ments decreased 1.4%, while small farm OE tire shipments remained fat. At the replacement level, radial rear shipments were up slightly, while bias rear and small farm remained unchanged. With its Goodyear and Titan brands, Titan International Inc. is the rear OE farm tire leader with a 46.8% share of the market (see Chart 18). It also owns a 52% share of the small farm OE market (see Chart 17). Te rear replacement farm tire market share leader is BKT Tires USA Inc.. Te BKT brand has a 40% share of the bias seg- ment and a 20% share of the radial segment. Te Firestone brand is second overall (see Chart 19). Scot Sloan, Titan's product engineering manager, expects the farm tire market to start slowly in 2015. "A late har- vest along with the inclement weather (last) fall has pushed producers' projects back a few months." However, the extremely wet conditions resulted in a "tremendous" increase in the demand for wide fotation tires, he adds. As for OTR tires, Tim Easter, director of OTR tire sales for Yokohama Tire Corp., believes OE shipments were down more than expected following 2013, when the overall market "bot- tomed out." He says growth in both overall shipments and OTR tire radialization is expected to be marginal over the next three years. At least the replacement OT R t i r e m a r k e t d i d n' t decrease. Easter says six size categories represented approxi- mately 80% of all replacement units sold in 2013; 65.3% of the units were radial. Top six replacement OTR tire size categories in 2013 1. 24-inch bias (11.6%) 4. 25-inch radial (29.3%) 2. 24-inch radial (10.0%) 5. 49-inch radial (4.0%) 3. 25-inch bias (16.3%) 6. > 51-inch radial (9.3%) In 2013, OTR tire unit sales were down 21% compared to 2012, partially due to challenges in the coal mining segment, said Easter. Michelle Lane, director of OTR marketing for Bridgestone Commercial Solutions, says the North American mining tire market has been impacted by the ongoing slowdown in global mining operations. "Coal, especially eastern coal, has been negatively impacted over the last couple of years, a trend likely to continue in the near term." ■ Facts section: Commercial Chart 18 2014 U.S. OE REAR FARM TIRE MARKET SHARE (660,000 radial and bias units) Firestone 41.7% Goodyear 26.7% Titan 20.1% Other 11.5% Titan Tire Corp. produces both the Titan and Goodyear brands at its three plants. Chart 17 2014 U.S. OE FARM TIRE MARKET SHARE REAR RADIAL (315,000 units) Firestone 43.5% Goodyear 34.0% Michelin 12.5% Titan 5.0% BKT 2.0% Trelleborg 2.0% Others 1.0% REAR BIAS (345,000 units) Firestone 40.0% Titan 34.0% Goodyear 20.0% Alliance 4.0% Trelleborg 1.0% Others 1.0% SMALL FARM (469,000 units) Goodyear 32.0% Titan 20.0% Firestone 18.0% Carlisle 10.0% Alliance 6.5% BKT 6.5% American Farmer 3.0% Trelleborg 1.5% Others 2.5% Chart 20 SMALL FARM TIRE MARKET SHARE, 2014 Total shipments: 1.25 million Chart 19 REAR FARM TIRE MARKET SHARE, 2014 Total bias and radial shipments: 782,000 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Other 7.7% Trelleborg 2.7% Alliance 6.0% Michelin 6.6% Titan 8.0% Goodyear 10.2% Firestone 26.8% BKT 32.0% 0 5 10 15 20 25 Other 3.0% Trelleborg 2.5% American Farmer 3.0% Harvest King 4.0% Akuret 4.0% Carlisle 10.0% BKT 16.5% Titan 17.0% Goodyear 18.0% Firestone 22.0% 48