The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA), a non-departmental public body of the UK government’s Department for Business and Trade, has recommended an increase in the duties paid by the majority of Chinese tire exporters, as part of an effort to protect the UK’s tire retreading industry.
The advice, concerning truck, bus and radial (TBR) tires, comes after two transition reviews into anti-dumping and countervailing measures on lorry and bus tires imported from China. These reviews examined the UK’s existing anti-dumping and countervailing measures, which were originally implemented due to the UK’s membership of the EU. Following the end of the transition period on December 31, 2020, these measures were incorporated into UK law.
The British Tyre Manufacturers’ Association, which supports the interests of tire manufacturers supplying the UK market from factories in Europe, has suggested that the UK’s retreading industry is estimated to contribute around £230m to the UK economy each year and supports 5,500 jobs.
The TRA outlined: “The TRA has assessed evidence that historically, many of the tires imported into the UK from China have been lower-quality, ‘single-use’ tires which are less likely to be retreadable. If the measures were removed, it is likely that imports of these lower-quality tires would increase and cause injury to the UK industry. This would also be detrimental to the environment as fewer of these tires would be recycled through the retreading process.”
The TRA has recommended that the new combined anti-dumping and countervailing duty rates should range from £10.03 per tire to £110.11 per tire. The lower price is based on what a company participating in the transition review would pay.
