India considering anti-dumping duties for Chinese truck tyres

The body within India’s Department of Commerce established to investigate unfair trade practices has recommended the introduction of anti-dumping duties on certain tyres imported from China. In the recently published findings of its report into truck and bus tyres with rim diameters above 16-inches that originate in or are exported from the People’s Republic, the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping (DGAD) states it is “of the view that imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty is necessary to offset dumping and injury.”

The DGAD found that India’s tyre industry had “suffered injury as a result of dumping” of these tyres from China, noting a “significant increase in the volume of dumped goods” in the periods it looked at over the past five years. “The dumped imports have had adverse effect on the prices of the domestic industry in the market,” wrote the DGAD, adding that the dumping margin for China “has been determined and is considered significant.” Observing that market share for imports of the products in question have “significantly increased” while that for domestic industry has decreased, the DGAD concluded that “the domestic industry has suffered injury as a result of dumped imports from the subject country.”

In order to offset the injury caused through dumping, the DGAD recommends the “imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty equal to the lesser of margin of dumping and margin of injury, so as to remove the injury to the domestic industry.” Specifically, the DGAD recommends introducing anti-dumping duties ranging from US$277.53 to $452.33 per tonne (the highest recommended duty applicable to any manufacturer not specifically named by the DGAD as well as to non-Chinese tyres exported to India from the People’s Republic) on the products covered by the investigation.

Case 14/14/2015-DGAD was initiated last year following receipt of an application from the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association, which it filed on behalf of Indian tyre makers Apollo Tyres Ltd., J. K. Tyre Industries Ltd. and Ceat Ltd.

Click here to read the DGAD’s final findings and additional corrections.