Govt's Own MPs Doubt the New Tyre Import Rule — Protecting Buyers or a Cartel?

Parliament's own public finance committee pushed back this week on a new technical barrier on imported tyres that was gazetted without a market study. The Ministry of Industry admitted it has no firm-level production data, and the Consumer Affairs Authority confirmed it never ran a market concentration check before the rule went through — even though only 8 of the 18 registered "tyre manufacturers" actually make new pneumatic tyres, the rest just retread old ones. Backers say a safety-critical product like a tyre needs quality control, and a domestic industry deserves some protection while it gets its numbers in order. Critics say fast-tracking a rule with zero competition analysis, in a market that thin, is exactly how import restrictions turn into a legalised cartel charging whatever it likes for a retread with a fresh sticker on it. The committee has given officials two weeks to produce real production and market-share figures — until then, nobody actually knows how concentrated this market is. Have you noticed tyre prices creeping up already, or compared a "local" brand against a cheaper import in the same size? Would you trust a local-only tyre market right now, or does it need real competition data first before any rule like this goes through? ටයර් මිල ළඟදී වැඩි වුණාද? ආනයනික ටයර් නැතුව ගියොත් ප්‍රශ්නයක් වෙයිද?