Titan International, Inc. has reported record turnover and profitability during the 2022 financial year. While the US-based manufacturer of OTR tyres and wheels increased its net sales by 21.9% to US$2.2 billion, income from operations jumped by more than 141% to $205.8, almost doubling the return on sales to 9.5%.
Russia and its friends within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will soon extend the scope of anti-dumping duties applied to truck tyres from China to counter instances of duty avoidance. The EAEU’s Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) issued an announcement to this effect on 1 February 2023.
On 19 January, the European Commission extended anti-dumping duties on aluminium road wheels from China for a further five years. The extension follows an expiry review investigation, which showed that these wheels continue to be dumped on the EU market and that industry within the European Union would suffer significant harm if the measures were allowed to lapse.
India’s anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made TBR tyres are scheduled to expire this month, but tyre association ATMA requested a review of these on behalf of Apollo Tyres, JK Tyre & Industries and MRF. The Directorate General of Trade Remedies published the results of this Sunset Review on 16 September, recommending the government continue charging duties for a further three years.
The South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference (SATMC) has welcomed the International Trade Administration Commission’s (ITAC) publication of provisional payments on “unfairly traded (dumped) imports of passenger, truck and bus tyres imported from China”. Provisional payments in place for a period of six months amount to 38.33 percent ad valorem. The six-month period runs from 9 September 2022 until 8 March 2023.
On 17 August, Sumitomo Rubber (China) announced that the company is ending the sale and production of truck tyres in China. From 2023, the company will no longer produce and sell truck and bus tyres for the Chinese market. From April 2024, Sumitomo Rubber (China) will no longer manufacture truck and bus tyres for overseas markets.
South Africa is currently contemplating anti-dumping tariffs for tyres imported from China, and an investigation is currently in its preliminary phase. A healthy head of steam has already built up on both sides of the argument, with the recent debate including a claim from the Tyre Importers Association of South Africa (TIASA) that the tariffs will simply result in Chinese imports being substituted for tyres from Europe or Japan. The South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference (SATMC) has issued a statement countering assertions such as this.
As markets and events have reopened during the course of 2022, Triangle has hit the road in a significant way, meeting with and communicating to existing and potential customers alike at events and exhibitions across the continent including: Tire Cologne in Germany, Autopromotec in Italy and the Hillhead OTR event in the UK. Tyres & Accessories met up with executives in Germany, Italy and on home territory in order to find out more about Triangle’s latest products and its increasingly quality-focused European strategy.
On 8 July 2022, the European Commission (EC) re-opened its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations relating to the imports of Chinese-made truck tyres [Regulation (EU) 2018/1579 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1690]. The latest move follows the judgments of 4 May 2022 in joined cases T‑30/19 and T‑72/19.
The European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) judgement that the European Union’s anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs should be annulled has been welcomed by many of those responsible for distributing these products across the continent. Yet for importers of these products in post-Brexit United Kingdom, the truck tyre tariffs introduced by the European Commission appear to be persisting. Speaking to representatives of the Imported Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ITMA), the association whose members are most directly concerned with these tariffs, Tyres & Accessories now understands that the UK’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) does not intend to annul the tariffs since the ECJ’s judgement does not apply legally in the UK, even considering the view that the tariffs were implemented improperly under EC law. It follows that the status quo on these tariffs will be maintained, at least until the TRA reaches tyres in its review of the lengthy list of trade remedies inherited from the UK’s time as a member of the EU. Until such a review takes place, the tariffs will continue to apply until at least November 2023, and UK importers are effectively blocked from joining European colleagues in ending and recouping duties found to be improperly implemented.
Anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs imposed against Chinese-produced truck tyres in 2018 must be annulled, according to a judgement published by the European Court of Justice on 4 May 2022. Tyres & Accessories understands that the verdict can be appealed between now and July, but unless that appeal is successful, the annulment of anti-dumping tariffs against Chinese-produced truck tyres will result in increased imports and sales of those products.
The chief executive officer of Michelin’s Europe North Region has spoken out against “cheap products from Asia and their dumping prices.” In an interview with German newspaper Bild, Anish K. Taneja, who also serves as the president of the German Rubber Manufacturers Association (wdk), emphasised that tyres such as these are not environmentally sustainable, nor are they sustainable for consumers or for local jobs.
The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has determined that passenger vehicle and light truck (PLT) tyres imported from Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand are being sold in the USA at prices that materially injure the local tyre industry. In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce has determined that Vietnam’s government is subsidising PLT tyres that are then sold in the USA at “less than fair value.”
The USA will continue to apply anti-dumping and countervailing duties to passenger vehicle and light truck (PLT) tyres from China. The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) decided against ending the charging of duties, which have applied to these products since 2015, after determining that doing so would “likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time.” Unsurprisingly, the United Steelworkers union applauds the decision.
Vietnamese officials have interpreted the US Department of Commerce (DOC) anti-dumping investigation preliminary conclusions as “very positive” for Vietnam-produced car tyres. There was even hope that cooperative Vietnam-based tyre manufacturers Local newspapers read this mean Vietnamese tyre factories had been “cleared” by the investigation.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries
Stephen Goodchild; Tyre Industry Publications Ltd
The Court of Justice of The European Union
Tyrepress.com / Stephen Goodchild
Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam [MoIT