TOKYO, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The amount of rubber used to make tyres in Japan fell 4.1 percent in October from a year earlier to 105,274 tonnes, data from the Japan Automobile Tyre Manufacturers' Association showed on Monday.
Tyres shipped domestically in the month contained a total of 61,462 tonnes of rubber, down 7.5 percent from a year earlier. Exported tyres contained 47,389 tonnes, up 0.7 percent.
The discrepancy between the totals shipped and total rubber used stems from the fact that some of the tyres shipped were made in previous months.
For the first 10 months of 2003, the amount of rubber used to make tyres in Japan rose 5.2 percent from a year earlier to 1,031,816 tonnes, the association said.
For that period, tyres shipped domestically contained 502,849 tonnes of rubber, down 1.4 percent from a year earlier, while exported tyres contained 532,016 tonnes, up 13.1 percent.