The scarcity of carbon black and natural gas, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, is as challenging as ever, he said, driving unpredictability in the market. Damon said carbon-black supply has become strained as countries impose sanctions on imports from Russia, a major oil and carbon-black producer. That, coupled with tighter pollutant restrictions on carbon-black production recently implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency, is "affecting carbon black across global tire manufacturing." The war has had a profound effect as well. Bridgestone's passenger tire plant in Ulyanovsk, Russia, has been idled since mid-March, when the tire maker froze new capital investment at the facility and halted exports of tires to Russia. Damon said there is no timetable for it to reopen as Bridgestone management assesses the risks of every scenario. "In terms of transportation input, fuel input all the things that affect our structural costs and customers costs, are being driven by" the war, Damon said.