Libyan tire market sources confirmed that domestic sales are currently suffering from a recession. Local tire vendors urged authorities to immediately issue necessary laws and legislation in order to protect the national tires industry from imported low-quality tire brands, Al-Bayan reported.
Imported tires cause many traffic accidents in Libya, the report asserted. Since the first half of 2001, there has been a substantial decrease in tire sales in Libya compared with the corresponding period in the previous year.
The same market sources added that a Mafia smuggles low-quality tires from eastern Asian countries into Libya and are sold for less that the production cost of local tires following the events of September 11.
Sources at the Libyan Tires Company reported that more than 100 new permits to import tires into Libya were issued over the past two years. The new importers, who are unfamiliar with the domestic and foreign tire markets, brought low quality tires into Libyan markets illegally. The price per tire declined from LD 80 to LD 30. — (menareport.com)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
