July 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



729 



ports into tlie United States was used for tires and tire sundries 

 as against 60 per cent in 1919, 75 per cent in 1917 and 58 per cent 

 of the imports for the fiscal year 1913, indicating the greater 

 supply of the raw material. The actual quantity of crude rub- 

 ber used in 1920, however, was not quite 4^ times that for 

 the year 1913, as against almost five times the 1913 quantity in 

 1919 and about V/j times that for the year 1917. 



AMERICAN TIRE DEMAND FOR ORIGINAL EQUIPMEINT 

 Statistics of motor vehicle production in the United States in- 

 dicate the increasing number of pneumatic and soHd tires required 

 annually for original eqiiipnit-nt. 



MOTOE VEHICLE PRODUCTION 



Passenger Motor 



Year Cars Trucks Totals 



1913 461,500 23,500 485.000 



1914 543,679 25.375 569,045 



1915 818,618 74,000 892,618 



1916 1,493,617 90,000 1.583,617 



1917 1,740,792 128,157 1,868,947 



1918 926,388 227,250 1,153,637 



1919 1,657,652 316,364 1,974,016 



1920 1.883,158 322,039 2,205,197 



Only a cursory inspection of these figures is necessary to see 

 how the production of passenger cars and correspondingly of 

 pneumatic tires under six inches was curtailed by the war situa- 

 tion of 1918, and the production of trucks and truck tires stimu- 

 lated. Truck tire production for original equipment has shown 

 continuous growth during and since the war period. In 1918 it 

 had increased to over 9;/2 times the 1913 production for this pur- 

 pose and in 1920 to over 135^ times the 1913 producti'^n. In 1920 

 pneumatic tire production for the original equipment of passenger 

 cars exceeded the previous high figure for the year 1917 by 

 569,464 tires, and exceeded the 1919 requirements by 902,024 tires, 

 this being over four times the 1913 output. It is seen, therefore, 

 that while 1,940,000 tires sufficed for new equipment in 1913, no 

 less than 7,475,888 were required in 1917, and 8,820,788 in 1920, 

 an increase to over 4'/2 times the 1913 requirements. During the 

 past year both the greater volume of increase and the greater rate 

 of increase have been in pneumatic tires under 6 inches, as dis- 



equipment and one spare, a total of 368,451,800 pounds of rubber 

 had been consumed in manufacturing the tire casings in Use in 

 the United States last year, an amount greater than the total india 

 rubber imports of the United States for the calendar year 1918, 

 and equal to nearly 54 per cent of the United States india rubber 

 imports for the calendar year 1920. On the same basis, only 68,- 

 439,320 pounds of rubber had been consumed in manufacturing the 

 tire casings in use in the entire world exclusive of the United 

 States. 



UNITED STATES TIRE EXPORTS 



Export trade is becoming an increasing part of the American 

 motor tire business, as shown by the following statistics compiled 

 the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. 



A study of these figures reveals several facts of interest, par- 

 ticularly the remarkable growth of the tire exports to the entire 

 world notably Europe, and to Oceania, Asia and Africa. The com- 

 bined value of the 1920 business in the three divisions last named 

 was nearly 50 times the value of these exports in 1913. Tire ex- 

 ports to Asia have increased constantly, the 1920 total being 140 

 times that of 1913 and 40 per cent greater than that of 1919. Ex- 

 ports to Oceania fell off in 1917 but the following year had nearly 

 reached the high mark of 1916. In 1919 there was a substantial 

 increase that continued through 1920. 



North American exports were adversely affected in 1914 and 

 1915, but thereafter grew steadily, the 1920 business showing 

 a large growth over 1919. 



The South American trade maintained a continuous and remark- 

 able growth from 1913 to 1920, inclusive, the value of the 1920 

 exports being more than 60 times that of 1913. 



Exports to Africa grew steadily until 1918, when tlieir value 

 reached some 42 times that of 1913, but showed a falling off of 

 about 7}i per cent for the calendar year 1919 as compared with 

 the fiscal year 1918. The 1920 business, however, increased to 

 over four times the value of that in 1919. 



European exports have fluctuated greatly owing to the war. In 



AUTOMOBILE TIRE EXPORTS 



Exported to: 1913* 1914* 



Europe $1,977,029 $1,764,240 



Nortli America 1.626,155 1,254.200 



South America 100,065 115,387 



Asia 36.212 64,173 



Oceania 185,807 279,327 



Africa 17,952 27,940 



Totals $3,943,220 $3,505,267 



•Fiscal year ended June 30. fCalendar year. 



tinguished from large pneumatic and solid tires for trucks. 



As to the 1921 production of motor vehicles and tires for orig- 

 inal equipment, estimates vary rather widely. Prophets, of course, 

 are as fallible as those who do not venture opinions. Further- 

 more, the major part of all prophecies fail. However, business 

 conditions throughout the country are such that, with an abnormal 

 number of used cars on the market, it seems unlikely that the 

 1921 production of motor vehicles will exceed 75 to 80 per cent 

 of the 1920 output, say 1,500,000 passenger cars and 250,000 

 trucks, the total 1,750,000 vehicles requiring 7,000,000 tires for 

 original equipment. 



TIRES IN USE IN THE UNITED STATES 



Of the 9,211,295 motor vehicles registered in the United States 

 during the calendar year 1920, some 990,000 were trucks, so that 

 nearly Syi times as many pneumatic tires under 6 inches as truck 

 tires were in use last year, the number of each sort, exclusive of 

 spares, being approximately 32,885,180 pneumatics under six inches 

 and 3,960,000 truck tires. One additional tire per car would be a 

 conservative estimate for spares, making the totals, 41,106,475 

 pneumatics and 4,950,000 truck tires. With 46,056,475 motor 

 vehicle tires in use it is not surprising that some 30,000 vul- 

 canizers are kept busy with repairs and retreading. 



On the basis of 40 pounds of rubber average per car for regular 



1914 they decreased a little, but increased considerably in 1915 and 

 in 1916 jumped to more than five times their value in 1913, after 

 which they declined steadily, the value of the 1918 shipments being 

 only about 74 per cent of the 1913 value. The 1919 exports, how- 

 ever, e.xceeded the banner year 1916 by more than 8 per cent, 

 showing an increase to more than si.x time the 1913 value — and 

 the 1920 business was over $18,500,000. 



Total tire exports to all countries fell off in 1914, but gained 

 in 1915, jumped during 1916 to about 4->4 times as much as in 

 1913, dropped considerably in 1917, but showed a noticeable gain 

 in 1918 and have increased ever since. Automobile tire exports 

 for the calendar year 1919 amounted to more than double the 

 value for the fiscal year 1918, and for 1920 were over SO per cent 

 more than for 1919. It may be said, therefore, that despite the 

 fluctuations of 1914 to 1917, inclusive, and the lower rate of in- 

 crease last year, American automobile tire exports have shown a 

 great and steady growth, the value of the foreign business in 

 1920 having increased to over eight times what it was in 1913. 

 TOTAL AMERICAN TIRE DEMAND FOR 1921 



It is estimated that the 9,211,295 motor vehicles registered in 

 the United States in 1920 will require about 32,239,532 tires an- 

 nually to replace those worn out at the annual rate of 354 tires 

 per vehicle. To this may be added the 7,000,000 tires likely to 



