In May 2026, the price increase in the tire industry will continue.
Recently, “price increase letters are flying everywhere” in the tire circle. In mid-April, we analyzed and summarized a wave of companies that are about to see price increases in May. Now that the end of the month is coming, many tire companies have officially announced in advance that they will focus on price increases starting from May 1.
From leading brands to regional manufacturers, from all-steel tires to passenger tires, almost everything is covered.
This is a wave of price increases driven by strong costs. It has entered the “countdown to implementation” from the “announcement period”, and the industry’s second round of large-scale centralized price adjustments this year is about to begin.
According to public statistics from websites such as Zhuochuang Information, this is the second round of large-scale concentrated price increases in the tire industry in 2026.
The first round of centralized price adjustments appeared in March and was mainly based on small trials; the second round was concentrated in sending letters in April and implemented in May, covering more brands, involving wider categories, and clearer execution.
Tire production costs are highly dependent on raw materials, which account for more than 70% all year round, of which natural rubber, synthetic rubber, and carbon black are the core components.
Raw material prices continue to rise, and this round of centralized price adjustments is the industry’s consensus response to raw material cost pressures.
In terms of natural rubber, the main producing areas in Southeast Asia were in the traditional low production and cutting period from March to April, coupled with weather disturbances, the spot price remained in the range of 17,000-17,800 yuan/ton, up about 10% year-on-year, accounting for about 30% of the cost of all-steel tires.
Butadiene rubber has risen from about 11,960 yuan/ton at the beginning of the year to the mainstream spot price in Shandong in late April of 15,900-16,400 yuan/ton, an increase of about 32%; styrene-butadiene rubber has increased by more than 12% year-on-year, and the cost transmission effect is significant.
Carbon black is affected by coal tar prices and environmental protection controls. The average price of carbon black N330 in April was about 7,650 yuan/ton, an increase of 15.8% from the beginning of the year, accounting for about 15% of tire costs.
Comparison of costs and price adjustments, as well as market analysis reports and data surveys show that the comprehensive production costs of all-steel tires increased by 6%-8% from January to April 2026, while companies generally increased by 2%-5% this round. The price increase is still lower than the cost increase, which is a passive supplementary increase.
This upcoming round of price increases in May will present three distinctive features.
First, there are a wide range of participants, with leading companies and regional brands issuing notices simultaneously, and there is a high degree of industry consensus; second, the implementation time is highly concentrated, with May 1 as an important node, extending to mid-to-late May; many companies have stated in their letters that they “reserve the right to follow-up price adjustments”, and cost pressure has not yet been fully released.
The industry as a whole is in a state of high costs and pressure on profits. Price increases are driven by raw materials rather than demand, and are highly sustainable.
In the short term, raw material prices remain high. After the intensive landing in May, small supplementary increases cannot be ruled out around June. If raw material prices stabilize in the medium to long term, the industry will smoothly transmit costs in a “small multiple rounds” manner, and the probability of a large surge is low.
Overall, the intensive issuance of letters in April and intensive implementation in May mark that the tire industry has officially entered a cost-driven and continuous price adjustment cycle, and the upstream and downstream industry chains need to be prepared in advance.
