Data released by the General Administration of Customs show that in the first four months of this year, China’s rubber tire export volume was 3.21 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%; automobile tire export volume was 2.6935 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%.
The tire industry is a core supporting link in the automobile industry and a key component of China’s petrochemical industry’s “going global” strategy.
China is the world’s largest tire producer and exporter. After decades of development, it has formed a complete industrial chain system covering R&D, production, supporting and sales. Its products cover passenger tires, commercial tires, two-wheel tires, engineering tires, solid tires, retread tires and other categories. Its production capacity and output rank first in the world.
Leading companies such as Sailun, Linglong, Zhongce, and Sanjia are among the best in the world in terms of production capacity, technological level, and global competitiveness. Their overseas production capacity accounts for more than 80% of China’s total overseas tire production capacity.
According to the “Panorama Report on the Overseas Development of China’s Tire Industry” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”) released by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry International Capacity Cooperation Enterprise Alliance, as of April this year, the overseas production capacity of leading companies generally accounted for more than 45%, and the overseas production capacity of Linglong and Sailun accounted for 52% and 48% respectively.
The “Report” believes that China’s tire overseas layout presents four major characteristics: first, regional concentration and gradient expansion, with Southeast Asia, Africa, and Serbia as the core. The three major regions account for 89% of the total overseas production capacity, and the industry extends to emerging regions in the Americas such as Mexico and Brazil; second, the main business leadership and industrial chain coordination, with tire manufacturing as the core, drive raw materials and equipment to go overseas simultaneously, achieve nearby supporting facilities, risk sharing, and cost optimization, and the “tire + raw material + equipment” full-chain overseas system has become China’s tire industry.
The core advantages of China Tire’s overseas competition are; third, leading enterprises and hierarchical overseas expansion. Leading enterprises focus on large-scale base construction and mid-to-high-end products; small and medium-sized enterprises focus on subdivided categories and localized services to form a collaborative overseas ecosystem and avoid homogeneous competition; fourth, large-scale and light-weighting go hand in hand; large bases consolidate core markets and ensure mainstream demand; skid-mounted and mobile factories fill gaps in sinking markets and small and medium-sized demand; improve global coverage efficiency; and form a “dual-track parallel” layout model that takes into account scale effect and flexibility.
In terms of regional layout, Southeast Asia is the region with the highest concentration of overseas layout of Chinese tire companies and the most mature supporting industrial chain, accounting for 62% of the total overseas production capacity.
Pang Guanglian, deputy secretary-general of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, said that at the location level, Southeast Asia is adjacent to China, and cross-border logistics and transportation are efficient and convenient. The policy dividends of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement are superimposed, which effectively reduces tariffs and cross-border trade costs, further expanding the price advantage of domestic tire exports; at the resource level, local natural rubber reserves are abundant, and companies can purchase core production raw materials nearby, compress supply chain logistics costs, and avoid operational risks caused by fluctuations in cross-border supply of raw materials.
In recent years, the number of cars and motorcycles in Southeast Asia has continued to rise at a rapid pace, and the demand for local tire replacement and supporting equipment has continued to release, opening up a vast incremental market. At the same time, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries have successively launched tax exemptions, land rental concessions, administrative approval simplification and other policies to adapt to the implementation of the entire tire industry chain.
At present, Southeast Asia has formed five major tire industry clusters in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Malaysia. It is also a priority pilot area for domestic skid-mounted and mobile factories.
Africa is an important potential market for Chinese tires, accounting for 16% of the total overseas production capacity of Chinese companies.
Pang Guanglian analyzed that Africa has a large market space, low costs, low trade barriers, and friendly policies – the population exceeds 1.4 billion, the per capita car ownership is less than 0.1, and the annual growth rate of tire demand reaches 15.2%. Among them, there is a large gap in engineering tires and commercial tires, which accurately meets the needs of local infrastructure, logistics and agricultural development; the labor and land costs are low, and it is suitable for the layout of mid- to low-end production capacity.
In addition, the import tariffs of most African countries are at a relatively low level of 5% – 10%, which provides opportunities for cooperation in the joint construction of the “Belt and Road”, a stable overseas environment, and strong policy support.
At present, Chinese companies are mainly deployed in South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Kenya, Morocco and other places, focusing on mid-to-low-end tires that are in demand. The supporting industries are gradually improving, and the production capacity of raw materials such as carbon black and cord fabrics is steadily expanding.
Serbia is a strategic fulcrum for Chinese tires to enter the EU high-end market, accounting for 11% of the total overseas production capacity of Chinese enterprises.
As an EU candidate country, tires produced in Serbia can enter the EU market duty-free, effectively circumventing the EU’s anti-dumping barriers against Chinese tires and improving the competitiveness of products in the EU market. The local automobile industry chain is mature, the labor quality is high, and the cost is only 30% – 40% of that of Germany and France, making it suitable for high-end tire production.
At the same time, the Serbian government provides policy support such as corporate income tax exemption for the first 10 years, land concessions, and simplified approvals to attract leading Chinese companies to deploy high-end production capacity.
The Americas are an emerging region for China’s tire overseas layout, accounting for 11% of the total overseas production capacity of Chinese companies.
With Mexico radiating to North America and Brazil covering South America, the market is mature, demand is stable, and trade rules are clear.
The Mexican base can circumvent the U.S. trade barriers to Chinese tires, and products can enter the U.S. market duty-free. It is the core fulcrum for Chinese tires to enter the North American market. As the largest automobile market in South America, Brazil has a high number of automobiles and a developed agriculture. There is strong demand for agricultural tires and commercial vehicle tires, so it is suitable for the layout of full-category production capacity.
The “Report” predicts that from 2026 to 2030, China’s tire overseas development will present seven major trends: branding, high-end, green, whole-industry chain collaboration, lightweight and large-scale, regional balancing, and deepening of localization. It will gradually realize the leap from “capacity overseas” to “brand overseas” and “innovation overseas”, and its global competitiveness will continue to improve.
It is expected that in 2030, China’s tire overseas production capacity will increase to more than 50%, and the global share of independent brands will reach more than 55%, becoming the core leading force in the global tire industry.
