BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Commission has published definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of new and retreaded truck and bus tires imported from China that are measurably lower than the duties proposed in May.
A 50-page document, signed Oct. 18 by EC President Jean-Claude Juncker, lists the duties as: Hankook Tire Co. Ltd., 23.41 percent; Giti Group, 29.56 percent; Aeolus Group and Pirelli (Prometeon), 37.29 percent; other cooperating companies, 32.3 percent; and Xingyuan Group and all other companies, 55.07 percent.
The anti-dumping duties issued Oct. 18 are considerably lower than those the EC proposed preliminarily on May 4, which ranged up to 166.7 percent on "other companies."
The EC noted in the document that after considerable input by all parties involved and careful consideration, it determined both dumping margins and injury margin, the latter defined as the "margin adequate to remove the injury" to the collective European Union industry.
The injury margin is calculated by comparing an exporting producer's export price with the non-injurious price of the EU industry. The latter consists of the EU industry's cost of production plus a reasonable profit margin.
The EC opted to use the injury margin as the amount of import duties needed to provide relief to European-based producers.
The EC began looking into possible antidumping measures against Chinese truck/bus tires in August 2017 in reaction to a complaint lodged by the "coalition against unfair tires imports."
The coalition, which represents more than 45 percent of the EU production of new and retreaded truck and bus tires, claims that dumping margins range between 74 and 152 percent.
The provisional dumping margins to be imposed were listed as: Aeolus Group 151.2 percent; Giti Group, 98.7 percent; Hankook, 80.4 percent; other cooperating companies, 110.3 percent; and Xinguyan and all other companies, 166.7 percent.
The regulation is set to take effect the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union—which ERJ understands will be Oct. 23—and remain in place for five years.