COVID-19 pandemic leads to steep drop in European replacement tyres’ sales
Today the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) publishes its members’ European replacement tyre sales for the second quarter of 2020. The figures show how the Covid-19 pandemic has contributed to the worst sales results in the history of ETRMA.
The first quarter of 2020, when the pandemic began to cause lockdowns across Europe, already saw a substantial slowdown in sales. As expected, the full effect has become all the more evident in this second quarter.
After having been shut for an average of 33 days due to Covid-19, all tyre manufacturers in Europe slowly resumed their production in May when most European countries eased their lockdowns. As a result, there was a slight upward trend in tyre replacement sales visible towards the end of the quarter.
Whether this trend will hold remains to be seen in the coming months. Being a global industry, the recovery of the tyre sector is not just dependent on Europe’s situation but how other parts of the world and global trade routes continue to be impacted by and address the pandemic.
The European tyre industry welcomes all measures that have already been taken at European and national levels to mitigate the impact of the crisis and looks forward to additional schemes to stimulate and support a successful economic recovery.
“The tyre sector’s full recovery is still far away. For the moment, we can only hope for the market to stabilise in the second half of the year,” said Fazilet Cinaralp, Secretary General of ETRMA. “Our outlook for 2020 remains bleak with a double-digit drop in sales expected across all segments.”.
