← External Forces: Trade, Geopolitics & Market Access (all topics)
Anti-dumping - tyres (Chinese TBR)
What it is
The tyre-specific application of anti-dumping duty. After India relaxed duties on Chinese imports in Sep 2014, TBR imports surged - roughly 40,000 units a month in FY14 rising to about 1.2 lakh by FY17, with China supplying ~92% of them
Definitive duties followed, and a countervailing duty of 17.57% currently applies to large truck and bus radials from China
Impact on industries
- The mechanism working as intended - duties reversed a surge that reached ~40% of TBR replacement demand, protecting returns on radialisation capex
- The 2014 relaxation shows how quickly protection can be withdrawn and how fast share is lost when it is - Chinese replacement share went from 15% to 25% in a year
- Coverage is narrow: duties apply to specific products from specific origins, so imports reroute to uncovered categories or third countries
- Diversion risk is rising - Chinese producers shut out of the US by steep tariffs may push excess output into price-sensitive markets like India