Domestic tyre manufacturers have cause for cheer. This is because anti-dumping duty would continue to be levied on non-radial bus/truck tyre imports from China and Thailand.
Bulk of the sales by turnover of the domestic tyre industry comes from non-radial bus and truck tyres.
The Finance Ministry has extended the validity of anti-dumping duty on such bias tyres till October 7 this year. The anti-dumping duty had lapsed on October 8 last year. This extension has come in the wake of a sunset review initiated in August last year.
The Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) had on behalf of the domestic industry — represented by Apollo Tyres, J.K.Tyres, CEAT and MRF — filed the petition seeking sunset review. The application was also supported by Birla Tyres. The period of investigation for the sunset review is from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011.
Although the validity of anti-dumping duty has now been extended, all imports of bias truck tyres between October 9, 2011 and end-March 2012 would also attract anti-dumping duty, industry sources said.