Rubber & Tire Industry in Numbers

The rubber and tire industry has seen various developments over the last seven days, with selected tire manufacturers’ share-price trends showing changes such as Bridgestone Corp.’s 8.1% increase and Hankook’s 15.1% decrease. Natural rubber futures prices have also shown mixed results, with the Osaka RSS3 Sept ’26 price increasing by 1.7% to 423.0 JPY. Companies such as Pirelli, Zeon Corp, and Nexen Tire have reported their financial results, with Pirelli’s Q1/26 sales increasing by 1.0% to €1.76bn. Additionally, several projects have been announced, including South Korea’s ministry of climate, energy, environment’s plan to increase the use of recycled carbon black in new-tire production, and Befar Group’s plan to build a 250ktpa speciality rubber plant by 2029. Other notable developments include Ceat Ltd’s plan to expand 2W tire production and Kumho Tire’s investment in a new tire plant to start in 2028.