JK Tyre & Industries has last week increased prices of tyres by 2% to 3% across categories, but may hold at the present level for now as rubber has softened of late.

Mr AS Mehta director marketing at JK Tyre said that "July is going to be a tough month and the sentiments are that rubber has fallen. So it will be difficult to convince the market (of a further raise).”

Mr Mehta said the company would be in a better position to decide on future pricing in the next 10-15 days, after assessing market conditions.

In June, rubber prices fell more than 6% and demand for commercial vehicle tyres is usually low in July and August due to the monsoon.

Natural rubber makes up more than 40% of the cost of a tyre and its prices are up 1.7% this year.

(Sourced from ET)