Tyre Prices Inflate Despite Dip In Rubber Prices .

Tyre prices continue to soar in India, despite the fact that the cost of rubber has dropped in the recent times. The phenomenon has hit the transport industry hard.

“The price of tyre was revised thrice in the last four months, even as rubber cost was scaling down in the market,” R Sugumar, president of Confederation of Surface Transport Tamil Nadu told Express.

Speaking on the sidelines of an agitation condemning the Centre’s failure to reduce toll fee for trucks on the National Highways here on Tuesday, he said, the raw material rate has hit a low in the country, after its export to Japan was stopped in the wake of tsunami. “But, the rate of a truck tyre which was Rs 16,000 during January has jumped to around Rs 20, 000 now, sending shock waves for the truckers,” he noted.

Pointing out that the price of Indian made tyre has not witnessed a downward trend since 2006, he said, a tyre was sold at just for Rs 8,000, five years back.

Charging that a high-level monitoring committee set up by the government to check tyre prices has failed to regulate the rates, he said that the anti-dumping duty has come in handy for the Indian tyre manufacturers to reduce local production. “At least 60 per cent of tyres sold in India are being imported from China at Rs 9, 000 and marketed with the ‘Made in India’ tag at a high price,” he said.

However, market sources attributed the price raise to inflation. Asked about the sudden drop in the prices of rubber, which should have reflected on the tyre rates in India, sources underlined that the Japan scenario was a temporary phenomenon and subsequently, the demand for rubber increased in China.

Source : expressbuzz.com