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US Outlines Duties on OTR Tyre Imports

The US Department of Commerce has set in place preliminary anti-dumping duties of up to 210 per cent on Chinese made OTR tyres allegedly sold in the US at artificially low prices. These duties were implemented on February 6, and tyres thereby now become the sixth Chinese product to fall foul of US anti-dumping duties since the start of 2008.

“Price distortion by Chinese exporters puts American manufacturers at an unfair disadvantage,” said David Spooner, assistant secretary of commerce for Import Administration, in a statement announcing the action. “In an effort to encourage a healthy economic environment and to strive to maintain a strong and fair relationship with our trading partners, the administration will continue its commitment to aggressively enforce America’s trade remedy laws.”

7th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Premium tyre manufacturers taking the lead in Russia

International News, News

It is apparent that the Russian tyre market is one of the most vibrant and emerging in Europe. Not only is this market, with a volume of 40 million passenger car tyres (replacement market) among the largest of the world (and soon will even overtake the German tyre market, traditionally Europe’s strongest), the position of market players in the competitive environment that is the Russian tyre market is changing, and new players are taking over from the well-established. While Russian tyre manufacturers are struggling to position themselves and their products in the profitable branded market segments, companies such as Nokian Tyres and Continental, along with Bridgestone, Michelin and Goodyear continue to dominate the game with their premium and secondary tyre brands (e.g. Gislaved from Continental). These manufacturers are successful in increasing their relevance to the Russian tyre market to a large extent because they benefit from controlled distribution, as the example of Nokian shows.

6th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Serbia Bans Imports of Used Tyres

Serbia banned used tyre imports on 1 February, apparently due to “environmental concerns,” Environmental Protection Ministry officials stated. Online news reports quote tyre producers as saying that they would ask for licences to continue to import used tyres, because they are needed as a basis for making their own products. According to the reports, tyre imports have steadily decreased over the years and the minimal amount used for production purposes is disposed of according to all ecological standards.

4th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Argentina Drops Retread Import Ban

The Argentinian legislature recently relaxed its ban on imported used and retreaded tyres to allow the importation, under certain conditions, of retreads classified under NCM 4012.11, 4012.12, 4012.13 and 4012.19.

Argentina established a prohibition on the importation of used and retreaded tyres classified under NCM 4012.11, 4012.12, 4012.19 and 4012.20, with the exception of tyres used on airplanes, in August 2002. According to reports, the government of Uruguay subsequently challenged this prohibition with respect to remoulded tyres and a South American Common Market (MERCOSUR) dispute settlement panel determined that Argentina’s action was inconsistent with MERCOSUR requirements.

1st February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Sameer’s Yana Tyres Struggling to Take Off

International News

Sameer Africa recently raised its tyre prices by between four and six per cent, the Nairobi Nation reports. However, price increases are unlikely to help sales of the manufacturer’s Yana brand. Local news reports that stiff competition from cheap imports, especially from the Korea, Egypt and South Africa have left the company at a disadvantage, following the price increase. “Kenya has no competitive advantage, and you can get any tyre you want from China at any price,” managing director Eric Kimani told journalists.

The influx of imported tyres from these destinations reportedly increased significantly in 2005, following the introduction of the East African Community’s (EAC) Common External Tariff (CET). Under the CET, the EAC member states (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) agreed to a common tax rate of 10 per cent on imports of new rubber tyres for buses and lorries. Initially, the import duty on tyres stood at between 25 and 35 per cent as a way of protecting local manufacturers.

31st January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Sri Lankan Manufacturers Fight Back Against Imports

The Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) has announced it will establish two new tyre manufacturing facilities to provide the 14,000 tyres needed for its buses every month while its Ampara tyre factory is being refurbished. The new plants will be located in Matale and Ekala, and SLTB expects to manufacture between 10,000 and 12,000 tyres annually when the first stage of work is complete.

The SLTB’s decision to produce its own tyres rather than import them is perhaps best understood by looking at Sri Lanka’s customs regulations. The SLTB spends Rs 65 million (£308,000) per year on tyre purchases, and each tyre brought into Sri Lanka from overseas is now subject to a tax of Rs 80 (£0.37) per kilogram or 28 per cent of the tyre’s invoiced value, whichever is higher. Assuming a weight of 70 kilograms per tyre, tyre tax, were all tyres to be sourced from overseas, would amount to £62,000. This equates to 20 per cent of total cost.

21st January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Now Producing Full Line-up in China

Currently nine of the world’s 10 largest tyre manufacturers have their own production bases in China. Among those companies that have recently chosen to venture into China is Pirelli. The Italian corporation has been operating a truck tyre production facility in China since the summer of 2005 before opening a new PCR tyre factory very recently in November 2007. At this stage Pirelli is still a relatively small player in the Chinese tyre market, but it is this context that will enable the company to achieve an above average growth rate, says Luca Cico in an interview with Tyres & Accessories. now that it has managed to fulfil the demands of the Chinese tyre market with two production sites in operation.

8th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental to Relaunch ContiNetwork

Product News, UK News

When Tyres & Accessories recently attended Continental’s annual media briefing, we expected to hear details of the previous year’s market statistics and product trends. However T&A got more than we bargained for when Continental UK commercial tyre business director, Arthur Gregg, revealed that the company is relaunching its ContiNetwork commercial vehicle retail business in February and will spend the next few years completely refreshing its product line-up.

Full details will be published when the official relaunch takes place in February, but here is a rough outline: Continental are aiming to give their dealers a more equitable system, whereby each company will have increased freedom to choose how much fleet business they commit to. Executives recognise that large amounts of fleet business suits some dealers better than others. In addition, Continental will unveil a new “dealer charter” (not a contract), which aims to improve two-way communications. In a related move T&A learnt that a new fleet manager for the Northern region will join the company this month.

8th January 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Malaysian NR Output Down 6.7%

Malaysia natural rubber production is down 6.7 per cent year-on-year, according to the local national statistics board. In October production was recorded at 97,627 tons, down 5.7 per cent compared with September. However, exports increased 1.8 per cent compared with October 2006. In October 2007 NR imports totalled 60,212 tons, up 13.8 per cent compared with September. Imports were up 64.3 per cent over October 2006. According to the data, the tyre industry consumed 11.7 per cent of Malaysia’s NR in October 2007.

17th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Lauds Commerce Department Ruling

(Tire Review/Akron) Titan International Inc. offered its comments in the aftermath of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s decision earlier this week to impose preliminary countervailing duties on new OTR tyres imported into the U.S. The Commerce Department found Chinese tyremakers exporting to the U.S. were benefiting from government-sponsored subsidies, which out U.S. tiremakers at a market disadvantage. The subsidy margins ranged from 2.38% to 6.59%, said the Commerce Department.

17th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan Welcomes Ruling on Chinese OTR Tyres

For Titan International, the US Department of Commerce’s decision to impose duties on new OTR tyres from China deemed to be benefiting from government subsidies comes as welcome news. “Today’s (December 13) determination sends a signal to producers in China that they have to start playing by the rules of game just like everyone else,” said Titan chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor. “Tyre producers in China benefit from government subsidies that give them an illegitimate advantage in our market, and it is the US industry and American workers who have suffered as a result. Hopefully today’s decision will start to counteract the damage being done by China’s unfair subsidies.

14th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Conti’s Burkhard Wies on EU Enivronmental Labelling

(Tire Review/Akron) The European Union plans to reduce both CO2 emissions and noise pollution from road traffic with a range of planned regulations. As part of that EU program, an environmental labeling program is being considered, which would identify tyres with particularly low rolling resistance (greater fuel efficiency). And a new requirement for noise emission from tyres is also planned.

While this sounds good in principle, said officials of Continental AG, the resulting conflicts in tyre development would cause significant reductions in traffic security. Company experts criticise the rolling resistance label in particular, warning against tyres designed for low fuel consumption only would be significantly worse at braking on wet roads than today’s tyres.

13th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Exports Increase, Imports Double in India

Despite the increasing strength of the rupee tyre manufacturers in India are still enjoying export growth, reports the Hindu Business Line. According to figures presented in the Indian business daily, exports increased by 19.2 per cent in the current financial year, with approximately 3.1 million units exported during the period. During the same months of the previous fiscal year total exports were in the vicinity of 2.6 million units.

“Exports in 2006-07 had shown a decline, as the demand in the domestic industry was healthy,” said Apollo Tyres COO and joint managing director Neeraj Kanwar. “With serving the domestic industry being a priority, exports seem to have slowed down. But now the industry has added capacity to increase its competitiveness, which would make the export growth come back to earlier levels. We expect exports to remain buoyant.”

6th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

WTO Rules Brazil Must Allow Retread Imports

A World Trade Organization appeals panel ruled on December 3 that Brazil did violate international commerce rules by restricting importation of retreaded tyres from Europe. Brazil claimed that the European Union was dumping millions of used tyres on its market, creating a greater risk of disease and environmental damage as the country had no means to effectively recycle the used tyres. Because Brazil allows such imports from South American countries, the WTO ruled that Brazil’s ban on the retreaded tyres was, in fact, as restriction on international trade.

5th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Who Wears the Trousers?

Editorial/Comment, News, UK News

The subject of grey marketing raises the hackles of wholesalers and manufacturers alike, with each blaming the other for its existence. So imagine my surprise when Kumho UK managing director, Steve Tidmarsh tackled the subject head-on, telling delegates at November’s Tyre Wholesaler’s Group (TWG) lunch that it is “the manufacturers who drive the grey market.”

4th December 2007/by Chris