Threat of tariffs already impacting European TBR market

While details of import tariffs to be imposed by the European Union on truck and bus tires 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, 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 (EC) 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 nearly quadrupled to 4.37 million in 2016 from 1.4 million units in 2010.

The EC is conducting a 15-month anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese TBR imports.

This will confirm whether anti-dumping duties and anti-subsidy 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 underpriced by around as much as 37 percent within the European market.