Union in bid to stop cheap tyre imports

The number of legally imported tyres has doubled over the past eight years, while Chinese imports have increased tenfold.

Local tyre manufacturers and the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) were concerned about the impact.

Four tyre manufacturers, Bridgestone (Firestone), Continental, Dunlop and Goodyear, together with Numsa have launched a campaign to highlight the safety concerns of cheap imports to the taxi industry.

According to the manufacturers, the risk is biggest for new, heavier Toyota Quantum taxis, issued with 15-inch tyres. Taxi owners replace the tyres with 14-inch tyres because they are cheaper. This can be dangerous because the thinner tyres can't carry the weight.

The cheaper tyres also threatened the livelihood of local manufacturers, already under pressure due to a 35% drop in demand due to the slump in the local car industry.

All four manufacturers have plans to cut their combined labour force of 7000 by between 15% to 25%.

The manufacturers say the dumping of Chinese tyres is on the increase. China had hiked its manufacturing capacity to produce tyres for 275 million vehicles a year, but the country only had 30 million cars on its own roads.

Source: Daily Dispatch

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