Tyre imports hurting rubber growers: ATMA .

Kochi Feb. 24 The surging import and dumping of tyres is severely impacting the interest of the natural rubber market in the country, the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) has said. A study conducted by ATMA has pointed out that the market for natural rubber growers and traders has shrunk by over 25,000 tonnes during April-December 2009 due to rising truck and bus tyre imports.

This was mainly due to the significant increase in the import of truck and bus tyres into India over the past few years. The spike was all the more evident in the recent months with import of truck and bus tyres surging from 27,000 in April to two lakh in December 2009.

“The import of tyre as a finished product entails an indirect import of rubber, affecting the interest of domestic rubber growers as they lose the market which otherwise normally belonged to them,” said Mr Rajiv Budhraja, Director-General of ATMA.

ATMA's analysis has shown that when import of tyres (2009) is taken into consideration, the import of natural rubber increased from 680 tonnes in April to 5,102 tonnes in December. The cumulative natural rubber import through imported truck and bus tyres during April-December thus works out to 25,639 tonnes.

Findings on dumping

Recognising the large-scale import and dumping of truck and bus tyres, the designated government agency in its final findings has recommended the imposition of anti-dumping duty on radial truck and bus tyre imports from China and Thailand.

The Rubber Board has also urged the government to check the dumping of tyres with a view to safeguard the interests of the domestic rubber growers.

The tyre industry is not only the largest consumer of natural rubber in India but the share of rubber consumed by the sector has been consistently growing over the years. Currently, the tyre industry consumes about 60 per cent of the total rubber produced in the country.

Source : Business Line