Egypt Drops “Anti Dumping” Tax On Indonesian Tyres

After an 18-month-long investigation, Egypt has announced it will drop a 40 per cent anti-dumping tax applied to Indonesian tyre products and said dumping allegations were cleared.

Before the allegations and consequent inquiry, Indonesia had controlled some 40 per cent of Egypt’s tyre market but was accused of flooding the country with low cost products.

Egypt complained to Indonesia for the first time in August 2006 but, according to World Trade Organization agreements, the allegation and tax was recently lifted.

Egyptian Ambassador to Indonesia Mohamed Taha said investigations conducted by the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry had found “a slight margin of dumping by the Indonesian exporters” but that the import tax had been lifted regardless.

“Some other factors interfered to lead to these results, and therefore, the Indonesian side cannot bear its full economic consequences,” Taha said
During the investigation period, Indonesian tyre exports to Egypt hit 70 million – 80 million US$ annually.

With dumping duties cut, the Indonesian Tire Producers Association said this year Indonesian tyre exports to Egypt could easily reach the 1 billion dollar mark.

The association’s figures showed tyre exports, mainly to Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern and Azerbaijan markets, reached US$ 820 million last year.