Bridgestone Corp said yesterday it plans to increase prices of tire products sold on China's mainland by as much as 10 percent from August to counter rising raw-material costs.

Bridgestone, Japan's largest tire maker, said that the prices of tires for cars, trucks and buses will climb by 7 percent to 10 percent on the mainland.

The price increases came after they were raised by between 3 percent and 5 percent in March after cost-control methods the firm implemented failed to offset surging prices of crude oil and rubber, according to a corporate statement.

"The growth in raw-material costs was higher than expected after the price rises in March," Bridgestone said. "Measures to ease rising costs were not enough to balance out the significant increases (in costs)."

During the second quarter of this year, crude oil costs jumped about 40 percent while those for rubber rose by more than 20 percent, which significantly affected production costs, Bridgestone said.

Bridgestone set up its mainland investment arm in 2004 and now operates four plants in the country.

Bridgestone said late last month that it would raise prices for tires, tubes and flaps sold in Japan beginning September by between 3 percent and 10 percent.

(Shanghai Daily July 8, 2008)