Recently, many leading companies such as Bridgestone (China), Zhongce, Sailun, and Wanli have issued price increase notices.
In early March, some companies took the lead in issuing price increase letters.
According to statistics, more than 80 tire manufacturers, including foreign giants and local leaders, have followed closely, with increases generally ranging from 2% to 5%. The scope and intensity of price adjustments are rare in recent years.
Since 2026, the “price increase” in the automobile industry has continued to spread to the upstream supply chain. Factors such as the rebound of lithium carbonate and tight chip supply have pushed vehicle companies to adjust prices.
On March 31, Zhongce Rubber, the leader in China’s tire industry, sent three letters in a row, announcing price adjustments for a full range of products including passenger tires, truck and bus tires, and off-highway tires.
This action was regarded as a bellwether for the industry and officially announced that the tire industry has entered a new round of price increase cycle.
On April 14, Bridgestone (China) issued the “Notice on Price Adjustment”, pointing out that recently, affected by the complex and changing international situation and global commodity market fluctuations, the price of tire raw materials has continued to rise. At the same time, related energy, logistics and supporting costs have also continued to rise, resulting in greater pressure on the overall tire manufacturing cost.
It is clear that starting from May 1, the price of passenger car tires will be increased by 3% to 5%.
On April 15, mainstream domestic brands such as Zhongce Rubber, Sailun Tire, and Wanli Tire issued price adjustment letters on the same day, forming a collective price increase trend.
Sailun Tire said that due to recent changes in the international situation and market environment, the prices of various raw materials have continued to rise, and the company’s manufacturing costs have continued to rise. It has decided to increase the price of TBR (all-steel radial tires) products by 3% to 5% starting from May 1, 2026.
Wanli Tire issued a price adjustment notice stating that since April, tire raw material prices have continued to run at high levels.
Affected by factors such as the geopolitical conflict in the Middle East, the main rubber producing areas in Southeast Asia being at the end of the cut-off period or the low-production season (beginning the transition to the new cutting season), and complex changes in the global market, the price of tire raw materials has risen sharply, and the production cost has far exceeded expectations.
Therefore, starting from May 10, 2026, the prices of all brands of TBR domestically sold products will be increased, and the adjustment range is expected to be 3%-4%.
Tengsen Rubber recorded the largest increase in this round. On April 11, it announced that it would increase the prices of its entire product line by 10% starting from May 1.
The tire industry’s collective price increase this time is mainly due to the overall increase in the prices of raw materials such as natural rubber, synthetic rubber, carbon black, and skeleton materials.
Judging from the price increase letters, many companies mentioned “rising manufacturing costs” when explaining their reasons.
Since 2026, affected by factors such as the situation in Southeast Asian production areas, geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, and fluctuations in international crude oil prices, the prices of the above raw materials have continued to rise.
The main production areas in Southeast Asia entered the traditional cutting period from March to April, with seasonal decline in output and abnormal rainfall in the production areas affecting rubber tapping operations.
For example, natural rubber directly broke through the high of 17,000 yuan/ton in March, once reaching the 18,000 yuan/ton mark, a year-on-year increase of more than 10%; the prices of synthetic rubber and carbon black are highly bound to international crude oil, and geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East will continue to escalate in 2026. Brent crude oil prices soared from US$73/barrel at the end of February to US$109/barrel at the beginning of April, an increase of nearly 50%.
Zhuochuang data shows that the average price of carbon black N330 in March was 7,700 yuan/ton, a month-on-month increase of 13.55% and an increase of 16.58% from January.
Industry analysts pointed out that overall, the current tire market is in a critical stage of “rigid rising costs and lagging price transmission”.
Prices of core raw materials have risen across the board, significantly pushing up tire production costs and shrinking corporate profit margins. Price increases may become industry consensus and an inevitable choice.
This round of tire price increases has formed an industry-wide wave of simultaneous price adjustments by foreign brands and local companies, covering all categories of passenger car tires and commercial vehicle tires.
Such a large-scale, cross-category, and all-entity centralized price adjustment marks that the industry has officially entered a cost-driven rigid price increase cycle, and the characteristics of passive price adjustments by enterprises are very obvious.
At present, the prices of core raw materials such as natural rubber, synthetic rubber, carbon black, and skeleton materials remain at high levels, and the pressure on the cost side has not yet shown obvious signs of easing.
Due to the obvious lag in terminal price adjustments, stores have sufficient inventory in the short term, and price increases by upstream manufacturers will have little impact on consumers for the time being.
The person in charge of many terminal stores said that they have timely stocked up the goods in the first half of this year, and they can withstand some of the pressure of rising costs in the short term and maintain stable prices for online and offline consumers.
If commodity prices continue to rise and supply chain disruptions continue, tire companies may not rule out launching multiple rounds of price adjustments and further raising product selling prices.
As cost pressure continues to be transmitted downwards, vehicle manufacturing, logistics and transportation, and the terminal consumer market will also be affected one after another.
