It seems like everywhere you look nowadays, prices are going up. Unfortunately, inflation affects the tyre market just as much as it does everything else.
At Minty’s various branches in Johannesburg, Vereeniging, Pretoria, and Durban, we try to ensure we still offer some of the most competitive tyre prices in South Africa.
To help our loyal customers understand why the cost of tyres in South Africa has gone up, we thought we’d lay out some of the tyre cost factors that are affecting the industry.
Raw Material & Oil Prices
Tyres are made from a combination of natural rubber, synthetic rubber, steel, fabric, and carbon black. Since synthetic rubber depends on petroleum-derived inputs, it’s directly affected by the price of oil. When oil prices rise, the cost of producing synthetic rubber goes up.
Therefore, the global rubber price indices trace closely to crude oil trends.
Import Duties & Anti-Dumping Measures
Many tyres in South Africa are imported. Duties and anti-dumping levies on tyres from certain countries, particularly China, have served to push tyre prices up. Because of import duties and anti-dumping levies, tyres imported from China now cost far more than before, especially for passenger vehicles.
In 2022, a 38.33% duty was imposed on Chinese imported tyres, adding to existing import duties of 25% to 30% for passenger tyres.
Exchange Rate & Strength of the Rand
Because imports make up a large part of what you pay for, even in locally made tyres, a weak rand can make tyres more expensive. The weaker the rand gets, the more it costs to import raw materials for local manufacturing, as well as finished imported tyres.
Since the rand has declined in value significantly over the past decade or so, the cost of tyres has necessarily gone up.
Local Manufacturing Costs
Various rising operational costs have had an inflationary impact on the cost of tyres in South Africa. High electricity tariffs, frequent power outages, rising labour rates, and the beleaguered national logistics infrastructure have all contributed to this.
Many South African tyre manufacturers say electricity and logistics have become some of their highest input costs, driving tyre prices up in recent years.
At Minty’s, we supply and install tyres across Johannesburg, Vereeniging, Pretoria, and Durban. If you want some of the most competitive tyre prices in South Africa, then get a personalised quote based on your driving needs now.
