Rubber & Tire Industry in Numbers

The global rubber and tire sector showed mixed signals this week, with share prices swinging across major manufacturers while raw material costs and financial results painted a nuanced picture of recovery and volatility. Bridgestone’s stock rose 3.5% to ¥4,129, while Goodyear slumped 13% to $6.04. Hankook gained 1.4% to KRW71,500, Michelin edged up 0.4% to €34.74, and Nokian Tyres climbed 4% to €15.12. Pirelli slipped 0.3% to €6.55, Sumitomo Rubber (SRI) added 1.5% to ¥2,377, and Yokohama Rubber (YRC) dipped 0.6% to ¥7,626. Among rubber product makers, Avon Technologies rose 2.4% to £19.56, but Cooper-Standard fell 11.6% to $27.57, and Datwyler dropped 2.9% to CHF136.00. Top Glove surged 4.8% to MYR0.66, while Hexpol and Trelleborg slipped 1% and 0.6% respectively.

Natural rubber futures rebounded across all major exchanges in the week ending 7 August, driven by stronger physical demand and consumer buying interest. The Osaka RSS3 Sept ’26 contract rose 1.5% to ¥429.9, the SHFE SCR/RSS Sept ’26 contract climbed 2.6% to CNY16,885, the INE TSR Sept ’26 contract jumped 3.5% to CNY14,720, the SICOM TSR20 Sept ’26 contract gained 3.6% to US$219.2c, and the SHFE BR Sept ’26 contract increased 2.9% to CNY13,110.

Financial results from the past fortnight revealed stark contrasts. Hankook Tires reported Q2/26 sales of KRW2,807bn (+5.8% YoY) and operating income of KRW483.2bn (+39.5% YoY), while H1/26 sales hit KRW5,373bn (+10.6% YoY) with operating income of KRW920.7bn (+35.4% YoY). Sumitomo Rubber Tires posted Q2/26 sales of ¥274.5bn (+113% YoY) and operating income of ¥34.1bn (+172% YoY), with H1/26 sales at ¥534.4bn (+8.3% YoY) and operating income of ¥34.1bn (+53.7% YoY). Yokohama Rubber’s H1/26 tire sales reached ¥639.4bn (+10.4% YoY) with operating income of ¥89.0bn (+57.2% YoY), while its non-tire business reported ¥54.9bn (+6.9% YoY) in sales and ¥6.3bn (+21.2% YoY) in operating income. Bridgestone’s H1/26 tire sales totaled ¥1,536bn (+10% YoY) with adjusted operating income of ¥217bn (+15% YoY), and its non-tire division reported ¥149bn (+4% YoY) in sales with ¥4.3bn (+12% YoY) in adjusted operating income.

On the downside, Goodyear’s Q2/26 sales fell 4.8% to $4.3bn with operating income of $36m (-77% YoY), and H1/26 sales dropped 6.7% to $8.1bn with operating income of $131m (-63% YoY). Continental Tires reported Q2/26 sales of €3.3bn (-0.2% YoY) with EBIT of €509m (+26% YoY), while H1/26 sales declined 2.4% to €6.58bn with EBIT of €977m (+14% YoY). Cooper Standard’s Q2/26 sales rose 2.2% to $721m (€625m) with adjusted EBITDA of $54m (-14.2% YoY), and its FY/26 forecast projects sales of $2.7–2.9bn (+2.2% YoY) with adjusted EBITDA of $260–300m (+33.3% YoY). Orion Rubber’s Q2/26 sales increased 3% to $316m (€274m) with adjusted EBITDA of $19.2m (-61% YoY).

Capacity expansion announcements underscored strategic bets on specialty rubber and sustainability. Indian Oil Corp. committed INR30bn ($350m) to a new butadiene rubber plant in Panipat, India, targeting end-2026 commissioning. Sailun Group is studying a tire manufacturing hub in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa, with a ZAR2bn (€108m) investment aimed at producing 1 million car tires and 300,000 truck and bus tires annually. Zeon Corp. completed a demo bio-butadiene facility in Tokuyama, Japan, in partnership with Yokohama Rubber, targeting commercialization by 2034. Nocil Ltd plans to expand rubber chemicals capacity in Dahej, India, via a backward-integration project costing INR1.3bn (€12m). South Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment earmarked KRW48bn (€30m) for higher-value recycling of end-of-life tires, aiming to boost recycled carbon black (rCB) use in new tire production. Befar Group will build a 250ktpa specialty rubber plant in Binzhou City, Shandong, China, with Phase I costing ¥1.82bn (€235m) and including a 70ktpa halobutyl rubber unit. Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical commissioned an 80ktpa carbon black plant in Quanzhou, Fujian, China, at a cost of ¥543m (€70m). Ceat Ltd plans to expand two-wheeler tire production in Nagpur, India, with a ¥12.1bn (€109m) investment to add 53,000 units to its daily capacity of 80,000. Kumho Tire will invest up to KRW760bn (€440m) in a new plant in Hampyeong, South Korea, starting in 2028, with a capacity of 5.3 million tires per year and an additional 7 million units of “refined rubber.”

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies opened a new sealing products facility in Querétaro, Mexico, focusing on static seals, O-rings, and gaskets.