Hankook Tire America Corp. is the latest in a long line of tiremakers to announce more price increases. The company will hike prices on its full line of passenger, high performance, light truck and medium truck tires up to 5%, effective Oct. 1.
"The price increases reflect rising costs in raw materials, particularly petroleum products and natural rubber, as well as higher costs in transportation and general operating expenses," say Hankook officials.
Increases will vary by product line and/or size, they add.
Three other tire companies will raise prices on Oct. 1. Falken Tire Corp. will hike prices on five different tires (the Ziex ZE-512, RT615, Radial A/P, Landair H/T and STZ04) by 5% to 7%. Federal Tire Corp. will raise prices on its full line of tires by 7%. Yokohama Tire Corp. will hike its passenger, light truck, medium truck, bus and commercial light truck tires up to 7% and its radial and bias OTR tires up to 8%.
On Sept. 1, Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire LLC will hike prices on its Bridgestone, Firestone, Dayton, Fuzion, private and associate brand passenger and light truck tires -- plus its truck, bus, OTR and farm tires -- up to 4%.
Earlier this month on Aug. 1, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. raised prices on its Goodyear, Kelly and Dunlop brand medium truck tires up to 5%. At the same time, Continental Tire North America Inc. (CTNA) raised prices on its Continental, General, Semperit and private brand truck tires up to 5%.
Also on the same day, Michelin North America Inc. raised its Michelin, BFGoodrich, Uniroyal, private and associate brand passenger and light truck tire prices up to 5%, while also raising prices on its Michelin and BFG brand commercial truck tires up to 5%.
Michelin also announced it will raise prices on its replacement passenger and light truck tires in the U.S. by an additional 3% on Oct. 2.
Michelin's latest round of price hikes started on July 1, when it raised its earthmover tire prices up to 4% and its farm tire prices by an average of 2.5%.
Also on July 1, Hankook Tire America Corp. raised prices on its passenger, high performance, light truck and medium truck tires up to 5%; Kumho Tire U.S.A. Inc. hiked its passenger, light truck and commercial truck tire prices up to 7%; and Nexen Tire America Inc. raised its passenger, high performance and light truck tire prices up to 5%. In addition, July 1 marked the date that CTNA hiked prices on its OTR tires up to 7%.
