In the first quarter of 2026, China’s tire industry will operate in a complex environment of domestic demand for repairs, export pressure, and high costs.
Judging from the disclosed financial reports of listed companies, the industry shows the distinctive characteristics of “general revenue growth, profit differentiation, and cost erosion.” A deep adjustment driven by costs and forced by the market is unfolding.
The overall revenue has grown steadily, and the profitability level has significantly differentiated
According to published data, most leading tire companies achieved year-on-year growth in operating income in the first quarter, but their net profit performance was very different, revealing the huge differences in the ability to resist risks among companies.
As the industry leader, Zhongce Rubber’s revenue in the first quarter reached 11.191 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 5.17%, with a solid scale advantage; Sailun Tire’s revenue was 9.461 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of 12.48%, leading the list, showing strong market expansion momentum.
It is worth noting that Doublestar Tire suddenly emerged. After being merged with Kumho Tire, it ranked among the top three with revenue of 6.629 billion yuan, becoming the industry’s largest “dark horse” in the first quarter.
Linglong Tire, Triangle Tire, Guizhou Tire and other companies also achieved positive revenue growth, ranging from 0.7% to 10%. Only Giti Tire’s revenue fell by 2.0% year-on-year.
This shows that under the background of overall stable market demand, major companies have maintained the expansion of sales scale through the consolidation and expansion of market share.
Unlike the general growth in revenue, net profits show sharp differentiation, and cost pressure becomes the core variable.
Among them, Guizhou Tire’s net profit surged 172.57% year-on-year, the most eye-catching performance; Giti Tire (100.51%) and Fengshen Co., Ltd. (80.36%) followed closely; the net profits of Triangle Tire and General Motors also achieved relatively high growth of 30.95% and 23.24% respectively.
These companies have successfully absorbed part of the cost pressure through product structure optimization, effective cost control or expansion of overseas high-margin markets.
Linglong Tire’s net profit fell sharply by 95.04% year-on-year; Sentury’s net profit also fell by 41.95%.
This intuitively reflects the plight of some companies whose profits have been sharply compressed under the impact of soaring raw material prices and exchange rate fluctuations.
In-depth analysis of the production and sales of listed tire companies
In the first quarter of 2026, major companies will show three completely different states.
Active destocking type: The sales of Triangle Tire (production and sales ratio 110.0%), Double Money Tire (102.0%), and Giti Tire (101.9%) were significantly higher than the current production.
This clearly shows that these companies are actively consuming early inventory, possibly in response to high raw material costs, by reducing current production and prioritizing inventory sales to improve cash flow and reduce warehousing costs.
Balanced and healthy: The production and sales ratios of Linglong Tire (98.3%), Aeolus (99.1%), General Motors (98.1%) and Zhongce Rubber (96.5%) remain within a healthy range of 95%-100%.
This shows that its production plan matches market sales well and its inventory level is relatively stable.
Capacity release type: Sailun Tire’s production and sales rate is 94.4%, which is relatively low among leading companies.
Combined with the substantial growth of 13.4% in its output year-on-year, Sailun is in an active production capacity expansion cycle. The current output growth rate is faster than the sales growth rate, and it may have reserved some inventory for subsequent market expansion.
In the first quarter, total tire production nationwide increased slightly by 0.4% year-on-year, reaching 288 million units.
However, the total output of just three leading companies, Zhongce, Sailun, and Linglong, exceeds 73 million, accounting for more than 25% of the country’s total output.
Among them, Sailun tire production surged by 13.4% year-on-year, and Zhongce Rubber increased by 5.5%. The growth rate was much higher than the industry average, becoming the main engine driving the weak growth of the industry, and the market share was further concentrated towards the leader.
The sales of Triangle Tire (+14.5%) and General Motors (+12.3%) achieved double-digit growth year-on-year, showing strong market development capabilities; Sailun Tire (+9.9%), Aeolus (+5.9%), and Zhongce Rubber (+3.2%) maintained growth, but the growth rate was lower than the former; Shuangqian Tire (-6.0%) and Giti Tire (-4.2%) saw sales decline.
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, the sales of most companies in the first quarter of 2026 have declined sequentially, such as Linglong (-8.2%), Fengshen (-8.5%), and Zhongce (-3.4%). This is mainly affected by seasonal factors such as the Spring Festival holiday and the winter off-season.
However, four companies, Sailun, Triangle, GM and Shuangqian, achieved positive month-on-month growth and bucked the trend, indicating that their channel resilience or order acquisition capabilities are stronger, which has smoothed the industry cycle fluctuations to a certain extent.
The cost of raw materials has soared and price increases are not transmitted smoothly
In the first quarter of 2026, tire companies will face unprecedented cost pressure, which is the most direct cause of profit differentiation.
The three core raw materials of natural rubber, synthetic rubber and carbon black together account for more than 60% of production costs.
From March to April 2026, the CIF price of natural rubber increased by 8% year-on-year; driven by crude oil prices, the price of synthetic rubber increased by more than 50% from the beginning of the year; the price of carbon black soared by 13% in a single month.
Although more than 70 tire companies have issued price increase letters intensively since March, due to weak end market demand, high channel inventory, and spring promotion policies, price increases have been difficult to implement at the retail end, resulting in an inverted phenomenon of “increased costs and falling transaction prices.”
This means that most of the pressure for rising costs is borne by the manufacturing companies themselves, seriously eroding gross profit margins.
Industry Enlightenment and Future Outlook
The performance map for the first quarter of 2026 points out the future survival and development logic for China’s tire industry:
1. Shift from scale competition to value and efficiency competition.
The model of simply relying on production expansion and low prices to seize the market is no longer sustainable. Companies must improve the quality of profits by developing high-end products, increasing brand premiums, and optimizing supply chain management.
The leadership in revenue scale of leading companies such as Zhongce and Sailun is inseparable from their global layout and technological investment.
2. Build a global anti-risk supply chain system.
Faced with the turbulent international trade environment and the divergence of regional market demands, leading companies are accelerating the construction of overseas factories. They can not only get closer to the market and avoid trade barriers, but also make better use of global resources to stabilize cost fluctuations.
3. Strengthen cost control and market response agility.
In the context of wide fluctuations in raw material prices becoming the norm, companies need to establish more flexible procurement and inventory strategies and use digital tools to improve production efficiency and channel management capabilities to quickly respond to market changes.
4. Seize the structural opportunities of domestic industrial upgrading.
The cyclical recovery of the new energy commercial vehicle market and the long-term development of new energy passenger vehicles have led to the trend of larger tires and higher performance, providing a clear upgrade track for companies with technical reserves.
The high standard requirements of the supporting market will force tire companies to carry out technological innovation.
In summary, the first quarter financial report of 2026 shows that China’s tire industry is in a critical stress test period.
Companies that can successfully cross the cost cycle and complete product and market structure upgrades will build a deeper moat; while those that fail to adjust in time may face continued profitability difficulties.
