South Africa mulls anti-dumping duties on Chinese tires

Cape Town – The South African government has been recommended to impose a provisional anti-dumping levy of 38.33% on pneumatic tires originating from the People’s Republic of China.

In a 12 Sept news report, the International Trade Commission of South Africa (ITAC) said it had determined that the local tire industry within the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) had been materially injured by Chinese imports during the 2020/2021 period.

As a result, the commission has proposed the imposition of ‘provisional tariffs’ for a period of six months “in order to protect the domestic industry while the investigation continues.”

The commission said it expected the SACU industry "to continue to experience material injury during the course of the investigation if provisional measures were not imposed."

The investigation, launched in January following a petition by the South African Tyre Manufacturing Conference, covers “new pneumatic tires of rubber” for passenger car and light vehicles as well as truck & bus tires.

According to ITAC data, alleged dumped tire imports increased more than 45% year-on-year during the 2020/2021 period to over 5.1 million units, contributing 62% of the total tire imports of the country during the year.