Replacement and original equipment passenger, light truck and truck tire shipments in the United States were down 3.3% through the first six months of the year, according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA).
In its June tire report, the RMA estimates nearly 147 million tires were shipped domestically, compared to 152.1 million over the same period last year. Replacement shipments were down 0.8%, while OE shipments were down 14%.
More than 120 million replacement and OE P-metric tires were shipped domestically through June of this year, compared to 122.6 million over the same period in 2007. Breaking that down, replacement shipments were up 0.7%, while OE shipments were down 10.8%.
Here are the RMA's estimated shipment totals through the first six months.
* Passenger tires, replacement: 99.1 million (up 0.7%).
* Passenger tires, OE: 21.6 million (down 10.8%).
* Light truck tires, replacement: 15.2 million (down 7.1%).
* Light truck tires, OE: 1.5 million (down 39.6%).
* Medium/heavy truck tires, replacement: 7.4 million (down 6.9%).
* Medium/heavy truck tires, OE: 2.1 million (down 19.1%).
For 2008, the RMA predicts drops of nearly 1% and 7%, respectively, in the replacement passenger and light truck tire markets compared to 2007.
