CHENNAI: Are tyre imports into India going up or coming down? Tyre companies and tyre dealers are locked in a vicious tit-for-tat with both sides claiming they have the right data. Tyre companies say the data shows that truck and bus radial imports are up 60%. Dealers say data shows imports are already down 29% and there is no need for anti-dumping duty on imports. Now the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) and All India Tyre Dealers' Federation (AITDF) are down to calling each other names.
It all started when AITDF released data suggesting that that import of passenger car radial tyre has seen a 53% drop in March 2016 compared to December 2015 and a 57% drop compared to the previous high in June 2015. This, said the AITDF report, comes on the heels of a 29.25% drop in the import of truck/bus radial tyres. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the passenger car radial imports in the quarter ending March 2016 over the quarter ending December 2015 have come down by 32.38%.
Now ATMA has hit back saying the data is wrong and misleading. Rajiv Budhraja, director general, ATMA, said, "AITDF though claiming to be a representative of tyre dealers has been, in fact, acting at the behest of tyre importers as has been always campaigning in favour of tyre imports and against domestic manufacturing. As much as 95% of truck & bus radial (TBR) tyres are imported in India by independent tyre importers who are the direct beneficiary of dumped tyres from China. They have mixed up TBR and passenger car radial (PCR) import to make a point and create confusion."
According to ATMA, for the second year running TBR imports are up by more than 60%. "AITDF's statement that TBR import has gone down is factually incorrect and a vicious attempt to deflect the government's attention from a serious issue," said Budhraja.
Singh meanwhile maintains that the data discrepancy is due to the fact that AITDF is calculating month-on-month while ATMA is calculating year-on-year. Also the radial import is restricted to a single category (10.00-20") whereas the other categories for light commercial vehicles and ICVs (like 8.25-16", 7.25-20", 9.00-20" and 11.00-20") is entirely serviced by domestic manufacturers. "There are months when tyre imports will go up like it will be higher in April than in March 2016," said Singh. "But that's because of several factors - summer is peak season for tyre demand and the truck market is growing in double digits so there is a demand supply shortfall which is being met with imports. We are only voicing the interests of consumers that tyre companies should either lower prices to global levels or allow imports to compete in a level playing field. You can't have your cake and eat it too," he added.
The AITDF report announced last week claimed that import of both PCR and TBR are down sharply. "AITDF has duly tabulated the import data of PCR import from China PR for replacement market for the period of January 2015 to March 2016 and it is very much evident that there has been no surge in import of truck and bus radial tyres into India as is being shouted by domestic tyre industry," SP Singh, convenor, AITDF had quoted in the report. "The trend has been up and down and there is no sign of any dumping and related injury to domestic industry."
ATMA, for its part, says that TBR imports have actually jumped 60 and 64% in FY 2014-15 and FY2015-16 respectively. Quoting customs data, ATMA stated that TBR imports went up from 7.8 lakh units in FY15 to 12.8 lakh units in FY16. In the last two years, TBR import has gone up by 2.5 times. From an average per month import of about 40,000 units in FY14 and 65,000 units in FY15, the TBR import figure has crossed one lakh units per month in FY16, states ATMA.China's share in TBR import in India has more than doubled to 90% in 2015-16 from 40% in 2013-14. Chinese TBR import has come to account for 30%-40% of replacement demand for TBR in India.
Source :timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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