Recent dealer commentary suggests that demand for consumer tires last month was higher on a net basis than it was during the same month in 2020.

Looking closely at raw material costs, we note that the “basket” of raw materials needed to build a common replacement tire has increased 23.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Our recent conversations with dealers leave us with the view that retail sell-out trends are continuing to improve on a year-over-year basis, while also showing strength over 2019 levels. However, activity levels did fall slightly from what our dealer base experienced last month.

Last month, I reported that retail sell-out trends were starting to cool down. But it appears that this might have been an anomaly, based on more recent data. Recent dealer commentary suggests that demand for passenger and light truck tires at the retail level has rebounded from prior-month levels.

Retail tire sell-out trends have continued to improve on a sequential basis and are picking up even more steam — not only year-over-year, but also when compared to pre-pandemic levels. Tire industry analyst and author of MTD's monthly Your Marketplace column John Healy explains why.

Following recent trends, our latest conversations with dealers leave us with a view that retail sell-out trends are continuing to trend downward, showing decreases on a sequential basis since this past October.

Feedback from dealers leaves us with a view that retail sell-out trends showed strength in October with a notable pickup in momentum from September. From a volume standpoint, surveyed dealers reported they saw unit sales improve roughly 1% to 2% compared to the prior year’s period and came in as the third highest observed growth rate in our tire demand index for the year.