As mentioned in our previous articles, Webb has petitioned for antidumping and countervailing duties on cast iron brake drums MADE in China and Turkey and imported into the US. This issue is separate from the new tariffs that President Trump is proposing. The countervailing duty was preliminarily determined in November 2024 to be 16.7% from most manufacturers in China and 98.77% from most manufacturers in Turkey. Last Friday, antidumping duties were preliminarily determined to be 109.64% from most manufacturers in China and 12.73% from most manufacturers in Turkey. This means that drums from China will be subject to a total duty and tariff of over 150% (including the 25% Section 301 tariffs implemented in [2018]), and drums from Turkey will be subject to a total duty of over 110%. These numbers will likely make drums from these two countries cost-prohibitive.
The rationale for these tariffs was that Webb indicated that they could not make a profit on cast iron brake drums and thus needed to increase the price but couldn’t increase prices due to competition from drums made in China and Turkey. No one knows how much prices will ultimately increase yet. With the closure of the Gunite plant, Webb will be the only ones producing cast iron brake drums in the US. Webb already had a price increase in January, and there will likely be more. Unlike during COVID, when we knew prices would decrease, these increased prices will stay for quite some time.
Rest assured that DuraBrake has been preparing for this for the last six months, and given that brake drums are the most significant part of our business, we have retooled our supply chain and stand ready to supply cast drums to the market. DuraBrake has solutions to supply your 16792X (3922X/56864X equivalent) and other drums that will remain cost-competitive with Webb. Our drums, as always, have drilled holes instead of cast holes, which are a significant benefit of our drums. Since this tariff is only on cast iron brake drums, this doesn’t affect our offering on hubs, rotors, brake pads, calipers, brake shoes, and steel-shell drums.
What Will Happen?
Now that we know the extent of the countervailing duties and antidumping duties from China and Turkey, we can better understand what could happen. Inevitably, prices of cast iron brake drums will increase. How much they increase will depend on how much Webb decides to raise prices. When prices of cast iron drums increase significantly like they did in 2022, fleets and owner-operators find ways to make their drums last longer – replacing them at longer intervals, turning drums, using better brake shoes, treating their brake drums, and using steel-shell brake drums, which were easier to purchase and were much less of a premium. We anticipate many of these behaviors will return to combat higher cast drum prices. The most prominent return we expect is a significant increase in steel-shell drums, which we anticipate will be on parity with cast iron drum prices or within a close range. We anticipate that fleets, OEMs, and owner-operators will likely see that they can purchase a lighter, stronger drum that is more resistant to heat checking at a similar price to be a winning solution.
DuraBrake will keep you posted on new developments affecting the brake market.