Close on the heels of slowdown in natural rubber production, tyre industry has been facing the shortage of carbon black, a raw material used in the manufacturing of rubber products. Tyre firms have written to the ministry of commerce urging a change in the government policy to ease imports of carbon black. “Centre should facilitate easy import of the raw material to ride out the difficult phase having an adverse impact on tyre production in the country,” Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) said in its letter to the ministry.
The industry body has express concern that steep anti-dumping duty has been imposed on carbon black imports from China, which account for approximately 40% of its global production. Capacity addition by domestic carbon black manufacturers do not match the growing demand from the domestic tyre industry, says the letter.
