Commerce reduces antidumping duties for some Chinese OTR tires

The U.S. Department of Commerce has lowered antidumping duties for some off-the-road tires imported from China after an administrative review.

On Oct. 9, 2015, Commerce announced a routine preliminary review of the antidumping duties charged against 12 Chinese OTR tire manufacturers between Sept. 1, 2013 and Aug. 31, 2014. At that time, the agency announced that two of the manufacturers did not export tires to the U.S. during the period, and a third did not qualify to have a separate antidumping duty rate, reducing the number of reviewed companies to nine.

The agency received case and rebuttal briefs from Titan Tire Corp. and the United Steelworkers union, as well as Quindao Qihang Tyre Co. Ltd. and Xuzhou Xugong Tyres Co. Ltd. At the request of several parties, Commerce held a public meeting on the antidumping duties review March 17, the agency said.

In the Oct. 9 Federal Register notice, Commerce originally proposed antidumping duties of 86.78 percent for Xugong and 99.86 percent for Qihang. In the April 20 final determination, Xugong’s duties were reduced to 65.33 percent and Qihang’s to 79.86 percent.

Four other companies—Qingdao Free Trade Zone Full-World International Trading Co. Ltd., Tianjin Leviathan International Trade Co. Ltd., Trelleborg Wheel Systems (Xingtai) China Co. Ltd. and Weihai Zhongwei Rubber Co. Ltd.—saw their duties reduced from 91.30 percent on Oct. 9 to 70.55 percent on April 20. Other companies were found to either be subsidiaries of another company or have not exported tires to the U.S. during the period.