Bridgestone Corp. said its profits climbed in 2010 on strong tire sales, but forecasted a profit decline this year due to higher commodity prices and the impact of the strong yen.

Bridgestone, which battles Michelin to be the world’s top tiremaker, reported a net profit of 98.91 billion yen ($1.18 billion), a huge rise from a 1.04 billion yen profit in 2009. The gain was partly due to a massive special loss amounting to Y10.6 billion the company booked a year earlier related to expenses for reorganizing its production facilities.

However, Bridgestone said it expected profits to decline 17% in 2011 to 82 billion yen on the negative impact of exchange rate volatility. The tiremaker also predicts a 16% fall in operating profit to 140 billion yen, despite a roughly 11% increase in sales.