Buried within the more than 134 pages of Qingdao Doublestar’s latest semi-annual report is the news that the state-owned tyre maker will extend China’s ‘one belt, one road’ strategy by working with a local partner to establish a tyre production facility in Algeria. The Chinese-language document states that its subsidiary Hong Kong Doublestar signed a joint venture agreement with El Hadj Larbi Pneumatiques during the reporting period.
Algeria is once again a tyre-making country. Some six years after Michelin closed its plant in Algeria, Iris Tyres has brought the country back into the game with a new plant equipped with state-of-the-art machinery. The first products in an extensive range of tyres went on sale in July, and plans are in place to extend the product portfolio over the next couple of years.
We’ve been following the progress of Algeria’s first homegrown tyre company, and in March reported that the Iris Tyre plant had completed its first test phase. Now the new tyre maker is ready not only to gain a foothold in the domestic market – Iris Tyre intends to export its output to numerous markets. It will present its range at the CITExpo trade fair in Shanghai next month.
On 26 March 2019 the Iris Group announced “the success of the first test phase” of its “100 per cent made in Algeria” tyre factory. Celebrating the news, the company thanks its partnership and stakeholders for their efforts up to this point: “All this could not have been done without the perfect involvement of our collaborators, a big thank you to all!”
Groupe Renault has reportedly approved the supply of 50,000 tyres from Iranian tyre maker Yazd Rubber Industries Complex to its subsidiary Renault Algérie. IFP News writes that in addition to supplying Renault, Yazd is now also in negotiations with Volkswagen following the car maker’s entry into Iran.
Cimcorp has received an order to supply logistics automation facilities to a brand-new tyre plant in Algeria. The factory is a new venture for the Algerian consumer electronics and household appliances group, Saterex. With huge growth in sales of products marketed under its leading ‘Iris’ brand, Saterex is diversifying into tyre manufacture. The new plant is being built in Setif, 300 km east of Algiers, and will be the first tyre factory in Algeria since Michelin Group closed its plant in the capital in 2013.
Algerian state oil company Sonatrach is looking to enter the tyre business. The Algeria Press Service (APS) shares details given by group vice-president for Downstream Activity, Akli Remini on the sidelines of the Ogex 2016 oil and gas exhibition; Sonatrach will cooperate with foreign partners on a project to produce “5 million tons of tyres per year.”