US adjusts Indian OTR tire duties

Washington – The US Department of Commerce has made small downward adjustments on its countervailing duty calculations against off-the-road tires imported from India.

ATC Tires Private Ltd., an Indian OTR tire manufacturer which was part of the investigation, petitioned Commerce 17 Jan, alleging the agency had made "ministerial errors" in calculating the final countervailing duties against ATC.

Commerce defines ministerial errors as any mistakes in arithmetic made while calculating duty levels.

Reviewing its calculations, Commerce agreed with ATC that it had erred in its calculations, and revised the countervailing duty against the company to 4.72% from the previous 4.9%.

Because of the downward determination for ATC, the countervailing duty rate for "all other" OTR tires from India was also reduced, to 4.94% from 5.06%.

The countervailing duty rate against Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT) remained unchanged at 5.36%. So did the 2.18% rate against Sri Lankan OTR tire makers.

Sri Lankan OTR tire makers were not investigated for antidumping duties, and Commerce found de minimise sales at less than fair value from Indian producers.

The International Trade Commission voted 5-0 on 3 Feb that US OTR tire makers were suffering material injury because of imports from India and Sri Lanka. Titan Tire Corp. and the United Steelworkers union petitioned the ITC for relief in January 2016.

The notice of the revised countervailing duties appeared in the 6 March Federal Register. It can be found online.