New Delhi: With the government imposing a stiff anti-dumping duty on tyre imports from China and Thailand, commercial vehicle makers could come under severe pressure this month.
A tussle had been going on between tyre makers and original equipment suppliers (OEMs) over pricing of radial tyres supplied to vehicle makers. To fulfill the demand-supply gap, OEMs have been resorting to imports from China.
But the new levy is expected to impact both, production at the OEMs as well as the tyre replacement market.
Even last month, CV makers such as Tata Motors had indicated up to 10% production cut because of non-availability of radial tyres.
Ashok Leyland was also believed to be facing production constraints due to tyre shortage and this scenario was aggravated by shortage of even ‘bias’ tyres last month.
When contacted, commercial vehicle makers declined to comment on this issue.
And the All India Tyres Dealers’ Federation (AITDF) said that duty to the tune of $35-$40 on a pair of imported truck/bus radial tyres from China and Thailand would make tyres costlier by Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000.
The duty comes on the back of licensed tyre imports so that domestic replacement market has fallen from to less than 10,000 tyres a month from 1.3 lakh a month till November 2008.
“The AITDF strongly protests against the betrayal of Governments duty towards the mass of 3.5 million truck/bus operators and stifling the free and fair play of market forces,” it said.
Source : dnaindia.com