In late May, Brazilian tire industry association ANIP (Associacao Nacional da Industria de Pneumaticos) reported that the country’s tire production only increased 4% during the first four months of 2013, despite a year-on-year growth of 17% within the automotive industry between January and April.
ANIP blamed this growth incongruence on increased tire imports, prompting association president Alberto Mayer to comment that many imported tires were not legal imports, were of a quality below that set out by national accreditation body Inmetro, and avoided the end of life tire handling fee charged on domestically-produced tires.
The ANIP petitioned the Brazilian Secretariat of Foreign Trade (SECEX) of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) to hold an anti-dumping investigation into passenger car tires imported from South Korea, Thailand, South Africa, Russia, Taiwan and Japan. This began on June 10, and producers, exporters and importers have been given 40 days to respond.
Reporting the South African tire industry’s reaction to claims that the country’s manufacturers are dumping tires in Brazil at a 51.98% discount, Johannesburg-based national daily Business Day quotes an unnamed industry expert, who opined that Brazil has been “quite aggressive” in protecting its manufacturing industry and implied its authorities didn’t always diligently follow World Trade Organization rules on the introduction of trade remedies.
South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference CEO Etienne Human told Business Day that the claim only recently came to its attention. “The (conference’s) members are in the process of obtaining technical advice on how to deal with the Brazil antidumping application.” The newspaper added that requests by the South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference for discussions with the Brazilian authorities have apparently been unsuccessful. (Tyres & Accessories)
