Importing cheap, single-use tyres from Asia to the UK marketplace is having a ‘devastating’ impact on the environment, employment and the tyre recovery programme, members of the retread tyre industry have warned the government.

Representatives from the Retread Manufacturers Association (RMA) and the tyre industry met with ministers from the Department of Business, Skills & Innovation (BIS) last week to press for urgent measures to address the ‘dumping’ of cheap tyres on the UK market, which it says is causing harm across the UK and European retread industry.

Retreaded tyres are created by taking selected worn tyre casings and giving them a new tread, and, according to the RMA, the sector currently employs 2,500 workers in the UK.

However, the RMA argues that tyre dumping, a trading practice where manufacturers export a product to another country at a price either below that charged in its home market or below its cost of production, is putting the industry at risk. The RMA says that evidence that dumping is taking place is can be seen by comparing the cost of raw material and the retail price of the Asian exports.

The deputation from the tyre industry presented data to BIS that showed that, for a truck tyre, which typically weighs 60 kilogrammes (kg), the materials cost around £1.16 per kg, giving an overall total cost of approximately £70. These tyres then retail in the market at around £73, leaving a margin of £3 for manufacturing, transportation, import duty and profit.

A statement released by the RMA reads: ‘If operators switched entirely to the cheap, single-life tyres currently being dumped in the marketplace, the increased volume requiring disposal would put an overwhelming strain on the tyre recovery programme.’

The association, which represents the interests of UK-based manufacturers of retreaded tyres, is calling for urgent action to allow the UK retread industry to compete on an equal footing with cheaper imports that are subsidised by their governments.

Without action, it says, damage to the domestic retread industry will lead to three times more truck tyres being disposed of across the UK, which it says would put ‘an overwhelming strain on the tyre recovery programme’.

Retread tyres

Since 2004, it has been a legal requirement for retread tyres to be manufactured according to Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) Regulations that stipulate that tyres are tested to the same load and speed criteria as new tyres.

The RMA claims that, as well as creating a substantial saving in raw materials, remanufacturing used tyres into retread requires 68 fewer litres of oil than is used in the production of a new tyre.

In addition to this, it says that the reusability of retread tyres means that up to three times fewer new tyres will need recycling at the end of their life.

‘Immediate action’ required

Patrick O’Connell, Chairman of the RMA, who led the tyre industry deputation to ministers, said: “We are calling on the British government and European Commission to take immediate action on the dumping of tyres into the UK and European markets.

“Our data supports the view that without intervention, the future of 2,500 employees, either directly or indirectly employed by the UK retreading industry, is under threat.

“This dumping of cheap tyres is having an increasingly negative impact on our industry, with serious implications for employment, the tyre recovery programme and the environment. The RMA is seeking urgent changes which will allow the European-based retread industry to compete on an equal footing in the marketplace with the clearly subsidised, cheap imports flooding in from Asia.

“We are committed to lobbying on behalf of the retread industry to secure its long-term future in the UK.”

Find out more about the Retread Manufacturers Association.