Get Ready to Pay More for Tires

Hugh Collins
Updated
Goodyear tires
Goodyear tires

Tires are getting more expensive across the world.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GTR) and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., (CTB) the two largest U.S. tiremakers, plan to raise prices by as much as 6.5% starting October, according to Bloomberg News. In Europe, Bridgestone (BRDCY) is upping its prices by about 6%.

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Tires are costing more as global demand for cars races ahead of world rubber supplies. Goodyear CFO Darren Wells said in July that raw material costs would increase by as much as 35% in the third quarter from a year earlier.

"Drought earlier this year and heavy rains later on hampered tree-tapping across Asian plantations," Pongsak Kerdvongbundit, managing director of rubber producer and exporter Von Bundit Co., told Bloomberg News. "Global production will lag behind soaring demand for at least another two years."

World auto sales will rise 8 percent to 68.5 million units in 2010, driven by demand in fast-growing emerging markets, according to Intelligence Automotive Asia Ltd.



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