The world of retreading looks a lot like the rest of the U.S. tire industry. Customer demand is strong, but the supply side of the equation has been problematic. One issue is tread rubber. As one retreader puts it, his business is focusing “on maintaining customers, while our rubber supplier hurts us with terrible fill rates.”
For many retreaders, 2020 wasn’t a year to invest in major expansion. As Michael Berra Jr., president of Community Tire Co. in St. Louis, Mo., put it, “2020 was a survival year.”
Retreaders are eager for the boost the new countervailing and antidumping tariffs on truck and bus tires from China are expected to generate for their industry.
It’s difficult to find a topic most people agree on, but among retreaders, concern over low-cost Chinese tires is one of them. “We are constantly looking for ways to cut cost out of the retread process so that we can be competitive,” says Chris Chase, president of Donald B. Rice Tire Co. Inc., which goes to market as Rice Retreading Inc.
