Reiterating its demand for early imposition of anti-dumping duty on import of truck and bus radial (TBR) tyres from China, Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) said that the imports have posted a 9 per cent growth in FY17.

Increasing imports

Quoting latest statistics, ATMA revealed that TBR imports has been spiralling in the last few years and the figure has touched a high of 1.2 lakh units per month in FY17 from 40,000 units in FY14.

Imported tyres account for 40 per cent of the replacement demand for TBR in India causing a blow to the domestic industry which has invested heavily in TBR manufacturing, ATMA has said.

TBR has emerged as the growth driver for the industry. Unfortunately, indiscriminate import has queered the pitch for the domestic tyre sector.

With expansion in capacity for TBR, the capacity utilisation levels have come down to 60-65 per cent from 80-85 per cent three years ago, said Satish Sharma, Chairman of ATMA.

Chinese impact

More than 90 per cent of TBR import is taking place from China and their share in the import pie has risen from 40 per cent in FY14 to 92 per cent in FY17.

While import duty on natural rubber is 25 per cent in India, import of tyres from China attracts just 7 per cent duty which is aiding in the import of tyres.Dumping of TBR tyres at such a large scale is also adversely affecting the interests of rubber growers.

Truck and bus tyres are primary consumers of domestic natural rubber.

However, domestic demand for tyres are being increasingly met by Chinese imports and the off-take of natural rubber by tyre industry has been impacted, ATMA said.

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