Gurgaon, India – The Indian government has reportedly launched an investigation into alleged dumping of Chinese tires, following a filing by the local Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association.
According to local news reports, India’s Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) had found “sufficient prima facie evidence" of dumping by Chinese tire-makers to investigate the issue.
The probe will focus on imports of new or unused pneumatic radial tires with or without tubes and/or flap of rubber (including tubeless tires) having nominal rim diameter code above 16 inches, the agency announced.
The period of investigation covers July 2014 to June 2015. It would also cover the period of 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15.
The news of the investigation came as leading Indian tire-maker Apollo Tyres voiced its concerns over the high level of low-cost tires coming into India, saying that its 2015 financial year had “largely been impacted by the Chinese imports.”
Imported truck-bus radials, especially from China, occupied close to 30 percent of the Indian replacement market for radial truck tires, Apollo said in its annual results statement on 11 May.
This, it said, impacted sales of both domestic truck-bus radials and truck-bus bias tires.
Commenting, chairman Onkar Kanwar said that anti-dumping policies against Chinese tires in other global regions had meant that India had “opened its market for low-cost tire imports from China.”
This, he added, had put at risk the investments made by domestic tire-makers.
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