Threat of tariffs already impacting European truck, bus tire market

While details of tariffs to be imposed by the European Union on truck and bus tires originating from China have yet to emerge, the impending move already is having an impact on the market.

At the Commercial Vehicle Show 2018 in Birmingham's NEC, dealers reported significant increases on the prices of Chinese TBR tires, to allow for tariffs that are expected to be back-dated to Feb. 1.One distributor of Chinese tires, who preferred not to be identified, said suppliers had been adding up to 37 percent to the price of their tires. This, he noted, was in line with official advice, ahead on an anticipated announcement by the European Commission on May 11.

The U.K.-based distributor also warned about supply and pricing issues for the market, even if only a proportion of the TBR tires imported from China were removed from the market.

Eurostat figures indicate that imports of light truck tires and truck tires from China to Europe almost quadrupled from 1.4 million units in 2010 to 4.37 million units in 2016.The EC is conducting a 15-month antidumping and antisubsidy investigation in Chinese TBR imports. An announcement of provisional measures is expected on May 11. This will confirm whether antidumping duties and antisubsidy duties will be applied and at what level—ahead of conclusions of the investigation to be published in November.

To facilitate the imposition of duties, regulation EU 2018/163 required all new and retread TBR tires imported from China on or after Feb. 1 to be registered.

Estimates in the EC investigation documents indicate that many Chinese TBR tires are being under-priced by around 26-37 percent within the European market.