The tyre industry is expecting a stable revival in the sales only in the last quarter of FY20 despite improved performance by passenger vehicle segment in October. The industry is concerned that heavy commercial segment, particularly truck tyre sales, continues to remain sluggish. “The rate of decline in sales has slowed and it is bottoming out. We expect it pick up in the last quarter of the fiscal year,’’ said Rajiv Budhraja, director general of Automotive Tyre Manufacturer’ Association (Atma). He said the overall tyre production is down by 8-10 % for April-October 2019 year-on-year. Though passenger vehicle segment showed improvement, too many holidays and plant closures affected sales during the month, he added. Original equipment (OE) sales have been showing a negative trend. Satish Sharma, president Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa of Apollo Tyres, said OEs contracted every month in the first half of the fiscal year while the demand from replacement market held firm till July. “Sales slackened in August and September owing to the slowdown in the economy and floods leading to lower mining activity. While the bottoming out might have happened for the OEs, the revival seems to be sluggish and gradual. Replacement demand has picked up from October onwards,’’ he said.

(Economic Times)