EU launches dumping probe into Chinese passenger car, light vehicle tires

Brussels – The European Commission has launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of passenger car and light vehicle (PC/LT) tires from China, following a formal complaint by the 'coalition against unfair tire imports'.

The probe was officially initiated on 21 May and will investigate the petition’s allegations that Chinese-made tires were being sold in the EU “at unfairly low prices,” undercutting European producers and causing material injury to the industry.

The investigation of dumping and injury will cover the period from 1 Jan 2024 to 31 Dec 2024.

The examination of trends relevant for the assessment of injury will cover the period from 1 Jan 2021 to the end of the investigation period.

According to the case details published by the Commission, the petition claimed that dumping margins of Chinese PC/LT tires were between 41% and 104%.

The Chinese import prices, it alleged, often fell below the “cost of input materials.”

The tires under investigation included new pneumatic rubber tires used on passenger cars, station wagons, racing cars, and light lorries with a load index of 121 or below.

These are covered under CN codes 4011 10 00 and 4011 20 10.

The tires, according to the complaint, are sold in Europe both as OE and replacement products, across premium, mid-range, and budget market segments.

According to the complaint, Chinese tire producers benefited from significant state support and distortions throughout their supply chains.

These included “preferential access to finance and land, below market prices for inputs such as synthetic rubber, carbon black and steel cord, and policies favouring export sales over domestic ones.”

The result, the petition said, was “a build-up of subsidised, dumped inventories of tires in China” that were now being directed to the EU.

The complaint highlighted a 51% surge in Chinese tire imports to the EU since 2021, particularly in the budget segment.

Such imports triggered falling production, shrinking profits, job losses, and upcoming plant closures across Europe.

“There is no doubt that the degraded situation of the EU industry results from the massive pressure exerted by imports from China,” said the petition.

In the meantime, imports from other regions “are substantially lower in volumes and significantly higher in prices compared to those from China.”

Under such pressure, the petition noted, the EU market is marked by a “budgetisation” of sales, with the composition of the market increasingly driven to budget tires.

Meanwhile, EU producers are “pushed back on the upper segment where their volumes and profitability decline as a result of the inter-tier competition.”

In response to the imports, the petition said that the industry was “actively adjusting” to this new situation through the rationalisation of capacities and maintenance of investments.

“The massive pressure exerted by unfair imports from China is, however, unsustainable,” it added.

Therefore, it asked the EU to set the duties at the full level of the dumping margin.

“Only duties at the full dumping margin would be sufficient to remove the injury suffered by the EU industry,” it said.

It also called for “immediate registration of imports and the imposition of provisional duties as early as possible,” and for monitoring of imports from other countries that may be used for transhipment.

The Commission’s investigation will examine the allegations and determine whether anti-dumping duties are warranted.

If so, provisional measures could be imposed within months, followed by a final decision.