The government of Romania has approved state aid of almost 100 million euros to Nokian Tyres PLC. The tyre maker intends to establish a new factory in Oradea, and the ad hoc regional state aid will finance the costs related to the factory’s establishment and address the financing gap related to this greenfield investment.
Nokian Tyres’ is investing around 650 million euros in a new passenger car tyre factory in Romania. The new greenfield factory will be located in Oradea in the North-West of Romania, near the Hungarian border. The annual capacity of the factory will be 6 million tyres, with expansion potential for the future. According to an official statement, the site will also house a distribution facility for storage and distribution of tyres. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2023 and the first tyres are estimated to be produced in the second half of 2024. Commercial tyre production is expected to start in early 2025.
An environmental impact assessment has commenced for the all-steel radial tyre plant that Zhongce Rubber Group (ZC Rubber) intends to build in Hangzhou, China. Subsidiary Hangzhou Zhongce Qiantang Industrial intends to set up the 6.5 million tyre a year greenfield facility in the Xiaoshan Linjiang High-tech Industrial Park; stakeholders now have an opportunity to comment on the project’s potential ramifications.
Construction of Tatneft’s new joint venture tyre plant in Kazakhstan has commenced with the installation of the first concrete pillar at the site in Saran. Workers are driving in piles parallel to laying foundations in order to ensure the project’s completion on schedule, and Tatneft anticipates it will inaugurate the factory at the end of next year.
Balkrishna Industries Ltd., manufacturer of the BKT tyre brand, reports that it recently commenced trial production at the greenfield project on the ‘F-20’ plot, a nine-hectare site near its current Waluj, Maharashtra plant. The facility has an installed capacity of 30,000 tonnes as well as warehousing for raw materials and finished goods. The tyre maker adds that the planned “small cogeneration plant” hasn’t been installed at this point in time.
Earlier in the year, Sailun Group announced it was evaluating the feasibility of producing car tyres in Cambodia, but the plans its Board of Directors approved this month are for a larger and costlier plant than originally reported. Planned capacity has risen 80 per cent, and the proposed investment almost doubled.
Sailun Group is considering setting up a plant to produce tyres for passenger vehicles in Cambodia. According to a feasibility study published today, the Chinese tyre maker is interested in building a facility within the QiLu (Cambodia) Special Economic Zone in Svay Rieng Province that is capable of making five million semi-steel radials a year. Sailun estimates the project will require an investment of 1.18 billion yuan (£130.5 million).
Doubts have surrounded the future of Balkrishna Industries (BKT)’s plans to establish a factory in the USA for the past two and a half years, and now the company has officially ended the project. This decision was agreed upon during a board meeting on Monday.
Commercial production at Ceat Ltd.’s new production facility near Chennai, India began yesterday, reports the tyre maker. Ceat says production capacity at the plant in Sriperumbudur Taluka will now be “ramped up progressively in a phased manner” up to a daily capacity of 28,500 car tyres and 2,500 motorcycle tyres.
Prinx Chengshan reports that “steady progress” is being made at its new tyre factory in Thailand. Construction work commenced on 31 March and the purchase of key equipment by invitation to tender has now been completed. The company estimates that all steel production workshops, mixing workshops, and supporting public works will be completed by the end of this year. Production at the site should commence in 2020.
Kenta Kuribayashi has been named president of Toyo Tire Corporation’s tyre production subsidiary in Europe, effective 1 September. He has taken on this role in addition to serving as president of Toyo Tire Europe GmbH and as chairman and chief executive officer of Toyo Tire RUS LLC.
An official opening ceremony is being held today for Nexen Tire’s new tyre factory in Žatec, Czech Republic. Numerous dignitaries have attended the event, including Petr Očko, the country’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Travis Kang, Nexen Tire’s global chief executive officer, and Byung-Joong Kang, the company’s chairman.
The likelihood of seeing BKT tyres ‘Made in the USA’ appears even more uncertain following an earnings call held by Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT) on 13 August. Although the tyre maker reported three days earlier that the 20,000 tonne per annum factory project was just “in abeyance”, comments made during the call suggest the pause on work is more than temporary.
Indian automotive components manufacturer Endurance Technologies Limited has informed the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) that it’s halted plans to set up a tyre manufacturing operation. The decision not to expand into this area was made after investors voiced concerns about the project.
It appears that Sentury Tire has paused its project to set up a tyre factory in the USA. Local newspaper the Valley Times News shares that work has been “placed on hold indefinitely.”
Michel Bossart; Pixabay