Domestic tire manufacturers are agonizing, and some small and medium sized tire manufacturers are turning their attention to markets outside the United States to ease the losses caused by the September punitive tariffs imposed by the United States.

“Since September, affected by punitive tariffs, our company’s tires exported to the United States have been reduced by 40%,” Jiang Wenchang, sales manager of China National Chemical Rubber Corporation, told reporters at the 3rd Asian Essen Tire Exhibition opened yesterday. .

"We are shifting the market focus to European countries because their product specifications are similar to those of the United States," he said. The company expects to achieve a total export value of over 10 million U.S. dollars in the European market during the year.

Manager Liu of Qingdao Fulin Tire Co., Ltd. told reporters that during the period from January to August this year, the total value of their exports to the United States exceeded US$27 million, but after August they stopped exporting to the United States.

Consistent with Liu’s views, Ms. Li from Guangzhou Xindi Tire Co., Ltd. said that the company’s exports to the United States have basically stopped and are now shifting to the development of the Central and South American markets.

“We adopt a wait-and-see policy and treat (stop exporting to the United States) as a temporary market behavior. However, we will not give up the US market. It has always occupied an important position (a huge market capacity),” she said. Due to the slowdown in global demand and a series of punitive tariff measures overseas, the proportion of exports from January to August in the 44 member tire enterprises of the China Rubber Industry Association statistics accounted for only 40% of the total output, which is in recent years. At the lowest level, export delivery decreased by 7.1% year-on-year.

"From a long-term strategic perspective, Chinese tire manufacturers should change their usual low-cost export strategy and instead seek new international markets," said Cai Weiming, secretary general of the tire division of the China Rubber Industry Association.

"China's tires exported to the United States have long been classified as low-tech, low-value-added products. Now is the time for domestic tire manufacturers to change their product positioning and rely on technology to develop mid- to high-end products," he said.

Liu Hongpeng, deputy general manager of Shandong Taishan Tire Co., Ltd., told reporters that their company is working hard to develop new production lines and aims to produce medium and high-grade tires. "In this way, we can avoid the punitive tariffs that the United States has for mid-to-low tires," he stressed.

The United States announced that it will impose a punitive tariff of up to 35% on tires imported from China since September; the continued increase in the number of tires imported from China will affect local tire companies and markets.