The Hindu Business Line : Tyre industry seeks relief from Chinese, Thai dumping

An official from the Automotive Tyre Manufactures' Association (ATMA) said that ATMA officials had met officials from the Anti-Dumping Directorate and a decision on the anti-dumping duty is likely by July.

"The import prices of truck and bus tyres from China are even lower than our raw material costs, and we are convinced that a lot of dumping happens in India," the ATMA official said.

"We have taken up the issue and the Directorate is expected to give its recommendations early next month to the Finance Ministry. A final decision on the anti-dumping duty is expected by July."

Panel recommendations

The official also said that the Government-appointed Anwarul Hoda Committee, constituted to look into the problem of the inverted duty structure arising out of the various regional trade agreements (RTAs) in August last year, has submitted its recommendations to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

"We had appeared before the Hoda Committee and it has been learnt that the recommendations have been submitted to the PMO, which in turn has forwarded it to the Finance Ministry to see how the recommendations could be implemented."

The official added: "All that we are asking is a level-playing field like in the other sectors where the duty structure on finished products is higher than what it is for raw materials."

With the implementation of the RTAs, some finished products are being imported at a lower duty even as the related raw material or input is imported at a higher rate.

The situation gets aggravated if the related inputs/raw materials cannot be sourced from the RTA partner and the industry needs to import from any other country on payment of higher duty, leading to inverted duty structure. The official also said that ATMA officials are likely to meet Customs officials from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and raise the issue of truck and bus tyre imports from China and Thailand.

"It has been observed that when truck and bus tyres come from China and Thailand, they generally under-invoice the products to avoid import duty," the official said.

Another issue that is likely to be discussed is used tyres being imported as new tyres.

"To a naked eye, it is very difficult to differentiate between used and new tyres. And a lot of used tyres are being brought into the country in this guise."

The official added that the other major issue was that there is no dumping duty on radial tyres.