Wholesale used tyres, exported from Japan by the container
USED TIRE JAPAN is operated by SK.Inc, a licensed Japanese exporter in Sapporo, Hokkaido. We export inspected Japanese used tyres worldwide by the container — to importers, wholesalers and retread factories.
Passenger car tyres (PCR), light truck tyres (LTR), truck & bus tyres (TBR) and casings for retreading, collected from tyre shops, fleet operators and dismantling yards across Japan and loaded at thirteen Japanese ports. We quote CIF to your port.
A note on spelling: this page is written in international English, so it says tyre. “Tyre” and “tire” are the same product — our company name is spelled USED TIRE JAPAN.
Why buy used tyres from Japan?
Japan is a right-hand-drive market with a large commercial vehicle fleet, a strict roadworthiness inspection regime and a seasonal tyre change that takes summer and studless winter tyres out of service before they are worn out. That combination is the reason a used-tyre export trade exists here at all. The points below are the ones our own buyers cite when they explain why they source from Japan rather than closer to home.
What Japanese supply actually gives you
- Fleet maintenance discipline. Japanese commercial operators run under axle-load and speed regulation on well-paved roads, and replace tyres on a fixed schedule rather than running them to the limit. That is the source condition behind the running tyres and casings we select from.
- Brands your market already knows. Stock comes off Japanese vehicles, so the mix is simply whatever is fitted here — Bridgestone, Yokohama, Toyo, Dunlop, Falken, Goodyear, Michelin, Continental and other brands sold in the Japanese market.
- Reusable casings. Because commercial tyres come out of service early, a usable proportion of TBR stock is worth selecting on the carcass rather than the tread — which is what retread factories buy from us.
- Inspection and sorting before packing. We work only with partner yards that run their own inspection before tyres are packed. Tell us your minimum tread depth and the sizes you sell most, and we confirm what the yards can actually gather before you commit to a booking.
- Supply gathered across the country. Stock is collected from tyre shops, fleet operators and dismantling yards nationwide rather than from one region, which is what makes full-container volumes possible month after month.
- Built for containerised wholesale. Everything we do is priced and loaded as a container, not as a pallet or a parcel — see the loading counts below.
A Japanese used tyre supplier, not a listing site
USED TIRE JAPAN is not a marketplace that forwards your enquiry to somebody else. SK.Inc is the exporter of record: we buy the stock, run the selection with our partner yards, book the container, load it and issue the documents. These are the credentials buyers ask us for before a first order, and every one of them is published on our company page.
Eleven staff, six languages, and loading capability across Japan. English, Spanish, Portuguese, Wolof, Igbo and Japanese are all spoken in-house. Stock is gathered nationwide and containers are loaded at whichever of our thirteen working ports suits the load — from Ishikari and Tomakomai in Hokkaido down to Moji in Kyushu. We also keep overseas offices in Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia and Senegal, and hold foreign-currency accounts in USD, EUR, GBP and SGD.
Full company profile, licences and head office map: About USED TIRE JAPAN.
Tyres we export from Japan
Four categories, all sold by the container. The category pages carry the full size lists, loading counts and per-category FAQs — this page is the commercial overview.
PCRPassenger car tyres
Japanese used passenger car tyres from 12 to 18 inch, in summer and studless winter patterns. Around 2,500–2,800 pieces in a 40ft container.
LTRLight truck tyres
16, 17.5 and 19.5 inch — the sizes fitted to vans, minibuses and small trucks. Loads well mixed with either PCR or TBR in the same container.
TBRTruck & bus tyres
22.5 inch tyres for heavy trucks, tippers, trailers and coaches. Roughly 288 pieces of 11R22.5 in a 40ft container.
CasingsCasings for retreading
Sold separately from running stock and selected on the condition of the carcass rather than the remaining tread. Supplied to retread factories.
All four categories together, with the loading photos: used tyre products from Japan. Not sure which category a size belongs to? PCR, LTR, TBR and casings explained.
Popular used tyre sizes from Japan
These are commonly requested sizes, not a stock list. The sizes below are the ones our partner yards gather in volume and the ones buyers ask for most often. What is actually available in any given month depends on what comes out of service in Japan, so we confirm quantities against real stock at the quotation stage — before you book, not after.
Passenger car (PCR)
- 155/65R13, 155/80R13
- 155/65R14, 165/70R14, 175/65R14, 185/65R14
- 175/65R15, 185/60R15, 185/65R15, 195/65R15, 195/80R15
- 205/55R16, 205/60R16, 205/65R16, 215/60R16, 215/65R16
- 215/55R17, 225/45R17, 225/50R17, 225/55R17, 225/65R17
Light truck (LTR)
- 205/70R17.5
- 215/70R17.5
- 225/80R17.5
- 245/70R19.5
- 265/70R19.5
225/80R17.5 is the single size that appears most often in our monthly shipment records below.
Truck & bus (TBR) and casings
- 11R22.5
- 275/70R22.5
- 275/80R22.5
- 295/80R22.5
- Casings in the same 22.5 inch sizes, plus 225/80R17.5 and 245/70R19.5
How we export used tyres from Japan
Nine steps, from your first message to the container arriving at your port. The full version — payment methods, Incoterms, accepted currencies and the complete FAQ — is on How to import used tyres from Japan.
- Send us your tyre requirements — types, sizes, destination port.
- We confirm the sizes and quantities our yards can actually gather.
- You receive a CIF quotation.
- You confirm the order.
- Tyres are collected across Japan and prepared for loading.
- The container is loaded — doubled or tripled to make the count.
- The container is exported from the Japanese port that suits the load.
- Shipping documents are issued to you.
- The container arrives at your destination port.
We trade on CIF terms only, and every shipment is insured by us. A 20ft container is available for a first trial order.
Container shipping
We are a wholesaler: we sell by the container, not by the piece. Freight is a fixed cost per box, so the piece count is what decides your landed cost per tyre.
- 40ft and 40HC — the normal unit. PCR runs to roughly 2,500–2,800 pieces; 11R22.5 alone stops at about 288.
- 20ft — roughly half of the above. We offer it for a first trial order.
- Mixed loading is usually the most efficient. Small tyres fill the gaps the big ones leave. TBR loads with LTR, and LTR loads with PCR.
- Doubling and tripling. Tyres are not loaded loose — smaller ones are pushed inside larger ones, which is what makes those counts possible.
- Weight, not only volume. A container full by volume can still exceed the road weight limit at your destination. Tell us any axle or gross limit that applies on your side and we build the loading plan around it.
The full breakdown by tyre type: How many used tyres fit in a 40ft container? · 20ft or 40ft for a first order? · what CIF includes.
Export ports in Japan
Not every container from Japan leaves Yokohama. We load at thirteen working ports from Hokkaido to Kyushu, and the one your container sails from depends on where the tyres were collected and which service reaches your destination fastest. Matching the port to the stock is what keeps inland haulage out of your price — and because we quote CIF, that cost is already inside the number we give you.
The thirteen ports we ship from
- Hokkaido: Ishikari, Tomakomai
- Tohoku: Hachinohe, Akita, Sendai
- Sea of Japan side: Niigata, Kashiwazaki
- Kanto: Tokyo, Yokohama
- Chubu: Nagoya
- Kansai: Osaka, Kobe
- Kyushu: Moji
Your loading port is confirmed with you before booking, not after. Why it changes from order to order: Which Japanese port will your used tyre container ship from?
Where we ship used tyres from Japan
A selection of the markets we hold country guides for — import rules, ports and paperwork, researched per market and honest about what we could not confirm.
West Africa
Southern & Central Africa
Asia
The Americas
Recent used tyre shipments from Japan
Every month we publish a loading report giving the piece count, the tyre types, the sizes and the destination region for each container that went out. The four most recent are below. These are shipments we actually loaded, not projections, and the photographs come from those loadings.
July 2026
Four containers. 2,205 pcs of PC and LT to South America; 2,074 pcs to Africa; 344 pcs and 338 pcs of TBR and LT mixes to Southeast Asia.
June 2026
Four containers. 2,189 pcs to Central Asia; 2,185 pcs to Africa; 379 pcs to Southeast Asia; 292 pcs of 11R22.5 TBR to Central America.
May 2026
Four containers. 2,819 pcs and 2,626 pcs of PC and LT to Central America; 2,260 pcs to Africa; 426 pcs of PC and TBR to Southeast Asia.
April 2026
Four containers. 2,696 pcs to Southeast Asia; 2,026 pcs to Africa; 296 pcs of LT and TBR to Southeast Asia; 286 pcs of 275/80R22.5 TBR casings to North America.
Earlier months, back to January 2023: all used tyre loading reports. Loading footage: used tyre loading videos from Japan.
Buying from Dakar instead of from Japan
For West African buyers who cannot commit to a full container from Japan, we also hold local stock in Dakar, Senegal. Our 7,000 m² yard there holds inspected Japanese used tyres — passenger, SUV, LT and truck — already opened, sorted and ready to collect, serving Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania.
Everything else on this page is container export direct from Japan. If Dakar pickup suits you better, see Japanese used tyres in Dakar — Senegal Hub.
FAQ — buying used tyres from Japan
Can I buy used tyres directly from Japan?
Yes. SK.Inc is the exporter of record, registered with Japan Customs under Importer/Exporter Code P0028260000 and holding a Japanese Secondhand Dealer License. You buy from us in Japan and we ship to your port — there is no intermediary trading house in between.
What types of used tyres do you export?
Four categories: passenger car tyres (PCR, 12–18 inch), light truck tyres (LTR, 16 to 19.5 inch), truck & bus tyres (TBR, 22.5 inch) and casings selected for retreading. They can be mixed in one container — TBR loads with LTR, and LTR loads with PCR.
Do you export used truck tyres from Japan?
Yes, and they are a regular part of our monthly loadings. 11R22.5, 275/70R22.5, 275/80R22.5 and 295/80R22.5 are the sizes we handle in volume, as running tyres or as casings. A 40ft container of 11R22.5 alone holds about 288 pieces.
Can I order one container?
Yes — one container is our normal unit of sale. A 20ft container is available for a first trial order if you would rather start smaller than a 40ft. We do not sell below container level.
Which Japanese ports do you ship from?
Thirteen: Ishikari, Tomakomai, Hachinohe, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Kashiwazaki, Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe and Moji. Which one applies to your order depends on where the tyres were collected and which sailing reaches your port fastest, and it is confirmed with you before booking.
How many used tyres fit in a 40ft container?
Around 2,500–2,800 pieces for 12–17 inch passenger tyres, about 288 pieces for 11R22.5 truck tyres, and roughly 2,000–2,200 PCR plus 500–550 LT pieces for a mixed load. A 20ft container is roughly half. These are working figures from containers we load, and the final count depends on the exact size mix.
Do you supply tyre casings for retreading?
Yes. Casings are selected separately from running stock, on the condition of the carcass rather than the remaining tread. Tell us at the quotation stage whether you accept casings already retreaded once, any DOT age limit you apply, and your position on repaired casings and sidewall marks.
Is a tyre the same as a tire?
Yes — the same product, spelled differently. “Tyre” is the UK and international English spelling and “tire” the American one. Our company is registered as USED TIRE JAPAN, and the rest of this site mostly uses the American spelling.
How can I get a quotation?
Send us the tyre types and sizes you want, the quantity or number of containers, your destination port and the container size. Our multilingual team comes back with a CIF offer. English, Spanish, Portuguese, Wolof, Igbo and Japanese are all spoken in-house.
Request a used tyre quotation
Tell us the sizes, the quantity, your destination port and whether you want running tyres or casings. We will confirm what our yards can gather and come back with a CIF offer.
