Chinese tyres slapped with higher import tariffs in South Africa

The SA Tyre Manufacturers Conference (SATMC) said it welcomes the International Trade Administration Commission’s (ITAC) publication of provisional payments “on unfairly traded imports of passenger, truck, and bus tyres imported from China.”

The provisional payments on the respective tariff classifications that will be in place for a period of six months, from 9 September 2022 to 8 March 2023, are 38.33% ad valorem, said the SATMC.

This preliminary determination by the ITAC follows the SATMC’s application in January to investigate the practice of tyres being imported from China into South Africa at unfairly low prices and causing material damage to the local manufacturing industry.

ITAC preliminary determination

The SATMC said it “believes that these provisional payments will address the issue of unfairly traded tyres from China that over many years have caused the [South African] tyre industry to suffer material injury that placed the tyre industry’s future, investment opportunities, as well as direct and indirect job creation, at risk.”

The organisation notes that fairly traded imports from countries other than China, including South Korea and Japan, will continue unaffected.

“The SATMC wishes to stress that the investigation that was initiated on 31 January 2022 is still ongoing. Only the preliminary phase of the investigation has been concluded and resulted in the provisional payments,” said Nduduzo Chala, Managing Executive of the SATMC.

A preliminary report will soon be published setting out the ITAC’s decision, and interested parties will then have 14 days from the date of publication to comment in writing.

“The ITAC investigation will now continue with its final investigation phase, during which ITAC will study all interested parties’ comments and verify information that was submitted, before issuing an essential facts letter,” said Chala.

“This will be followed by ITAC’s final determination that must be published by, or before, 31 July 2023.”

In response to the SATMC’s application for investigation, the Tyre Importers Association of South Africa (TIASA) has warned that, should additional import tariffs be imposed on Chinese tyres, it could significantly push up average tyre prices in the country.

“If ITAC decides to impose the maximum duty percentage requested by SATMC, we could see price increases range from 41% for taxi tyres, 38-40% for passenger tyres, and an average of 17% for truck and bus tyres,” said Charl de Villiers, TIASA Chairperson.