Japan’s tyre makers hike prices, motorists in Nigeria patronise used tyres as rates of premium spike

Tyre makers in Japan are hiking the prices of their products for the second time this year as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has driven up raw material costs.

Industry leader Bridgestone will raise wholesale prices of products including summer and winter tires for passenger cars, by 3 per cent to 8 per cent. The increases will start in September.

It is the first time in 14 years for the company to raise factory-gate prices twice a year. The previous increases came in April.

Sumitomo Rubber, Yokohama Rubber and Michelin will also raise wholesale prices for a second time in 2022, this time by up to 8 per cent.

Sumitomo will start charging more from September, while Yokohama and Michelin will do so from October.

The companies blame the soaring costs of raw materials such as crude oil and naphtha, which are used to make synthetic rubber. They say they are unable to absorb all those increases through other cost-cutting efforts.

In Nigeria over 100 per cent spike in the cost of new tyres has created a boom in the fairly used and low-premium brands notwithstanding the associated risk involved.

Sales of brand new tyres particularly premium brands like Dunlop, Michelin, Bridgestone, and Goodyear have dropped, while demand for fairly used and low-premium variants from China and other Asian countries has peaked.

The slide in the fortune of the nation’s economy, which has forced the price of various types of tyres to be on the rise is adversely affecting the motoring public, as road traffic accidents (RTAs) occasioned by the use of cheap and substandard tyres are increasing.

The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), had in recent times seized several imported substandard tyres worth N2 billion, noting that the prevalence of such practice continues to put lives at risk.

Statistics from the office of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) indicated that 70 per cent of road traffic accidents are caused by the use of substandard tyres.

One of the FRSC bulletins revealed that “tyres expire after four years or after travelling about 80,000km, but not many drivers are aware of this fact. Most drivers, including vulcanizers, don’t know how to identify the expiry date of tyres”.