India: Tyre-maker Ceat to up prices by 3-5% from month-end

MUMBAI: Tyre-maker Ceat today said it has decided to hike its tyre prices by 3-5 per cent from this month-end to offset surging rubber prices for the second time this year.
"Raw materials prices have gone up to an all-time high, touching Rs 250 per kg of natural rubber. The current increase in rubber price is unbearable and we have decided to jack-up the selling price of all types of tyres," Ceat's Executive Director (Operation), Anarb Banarjee, told PTI here.
The price revision in the range of 3-5 per cent is inevitable and it would be made effective from the last week of this month across the country, he said.
Earlier, the company hiked tyre prices by 4-5 per cent in January this year.
Ceat Ltd is a part of RPG group and is the fourth largest tyre manufacturer in India.
High raw material costs had impacted the company's performance in FY 11.
The company reported an 83.71 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit for the year ended March 31, 2011, to Rs 26.46-crore as against a net profit of Rs 162.47-crore in the same period last fiscal.
On a stand-alone basis, the company suffered a loss of Rs 11.86-crore in the January-March quarter, as against a profit of Rs 15.33 crore in the year ago-period.
"Our profit declined due to increasing raw material prices," he said.