Following the steep falloff in car and truck sales in 2008 and into '09, the demand for consumer tires continues to soften. At the same time, tiremakers report that they're having a difficult time keeping up with the growing requirements for farm equipment tires — both from OEMs and replacements, according to Modern Tire Dealer.

Shipments of farm tires for every category of ag tires the magazine tracks rose last year compared to 2007 levels. Small farm replacement tires saw the biggest increase, jumping 130,000 units between 2007 and 2008. Demand for radial rear OE and small farm OE both rose by 70,000 units last year.

Bias rear replacements grew by 65,000 units and bias rear replacement shipments rose by 55,000. Radial rear replacement tires rose by 25,000 vs. 2007. The adjacent table were developed by the magazine and show the market share of the major tire suppliers in each category.