Australia’s retread tyre manufacturing industry is at a critical juncture amid falling market share, declining facility numbers and growing pressure from imported single-use tyres, according to a new analysis released by Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA).
The report, Retread Tyre Sector in Australia: Comprehensive Market Analysis, highlights a significant contraction in the domestic retread market, which it says has fallen from around 20% of the heavy commercial replacement tyre segment in 2017 to approximately 10% in 2025. TSA attributes the shift to increasing volumes of lower-cost imported tyres and structural changes in the heavy vehicle market.
TSA chief executive Lina Goodman said the findings underline a broader risk to Australian manufacturing capacity in a long-established circular economy sector.
“This report is a call to action,” Goodman said. “Australia’s retread industry has been contributing to a circular economy for around 100 years and today produces a top-quality product that delivers significant cost, productivity and environmental benefits for the heavy commercial vehicle sector.”
She warned that without policy intervention, domestic production could continue to weaken. “Yet without government support, we risk losing our last onshore tyre production capability to a flood of lower quality and lower upfront cost, single-use tyres,” she said.
The report finds that while annual retread production has remained relatively steady at about 390,000 tyres, sales of new heavy commercial drive and trailer tyres have increased by roughly 80% since 2017, rising from 1.5 million to 2.7 million units. It links this growth to increased imports of lower-cost, single-use products.
According to TSA, Australia’s 22 remaining retread facilities are currently operating at an estimated 31% to 56% of single-shift capacity, despite having the potential to service a much larger share of the market. The report estimates the sector could retread between 55% and 80% of heavy commercial tyres sold annually if utilisation improved.
The industry’s contraction is also reflected in infrastructure decline, with the number of retread facilities falling from 61 in 2003 to 22 today.
TSA says around 125 people are directly employed in tyre retreading, but that figure could rise to about 1,000 jobs if existing capacity were fully utilised.
Environmental benefits were also highlighted, with the report estimating the sector reduces waste by about 16,000 tonnes annually and cuts emissions by roughly 44,500 tonnes of CO? equivalent each year.
Goodman said international policy responses suggest Australia risks falling behind if no action is taken. “The United States and the European Union have both acted to protect their retread industries. If Australia does not follow suit, we will become a ‘soft target’ for trade dumping of lower quality tyres,” she said.
The report outlines several recommendations, including the development of a mandatory product stewardship scheme, stronger enforcement of Australian Design Rules, measures to address potential dumping of imported tyres, and improved recognition of waste reduction outcomes in national reporting frameworks.
TSA commissioned the report in May 2025, aligning its findings with the Australian Government’s Circular Economy Framework, which targets improvements in resource recovery, materials productivity and circularity rates.
Goodman said policy support could strengthen domestic manufacturing while delivering broader economic and environmental gains.
“Supporting the retread industry could create an additional 850 direct jobs, lower transport sector costs and emissions, and grow Australia’s circular economy,” she said. “The evidence is clear – it’s time for the Australian Government to act.”
