Titan reports sales, income declines

Titan International Inc. posted sales of $232.6 million on net income of $7 million during the first quarter of 2009. That compares to sales of $253.5 million on net income of $8.1 million achieved during the first quarter of 2008.

On the upside, Titan reports that its agricultural product sales totaled $187.3 million during the quarter, an all-time high for the company, vs. $173.5 million in the first quarter of 2008.

"Large farm tires and wheels were selling well in the first quarter of 2009, along with Titan's new super giant mining tires," says Titan Chairman and CEO Morry Taylor. "It is difficult to predict what will happen moving forward. The price of corn is holding and soybeans are up, so the agricultural market looks good, but are farmers going to keep buying with all the uncertainty in the economy? I don't know."

Taylor reports that orders for the second quarter "are good, but lead times are much shorter today than six months ago."

On the OTR side, he says there are "no shortages of giant mining tires today and pricing has dropped by at least 25% because of the drop in material costs. Natural rubber is projected to drop from approximately 80 cents today to 50 cents by the end of the year. In September 2008, it was $1.52."

Related Topics: farm tires, Financials, OTR, Titan

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