Kumho Tire Co., South Korea’s second-largest tire maker, said Tuesday it will sell its natural rubber processing plant in Vietnam to focus on its core business. According to an official statement published on 23 March 2021, Kumho Tire said it has struck a deal with a joint venture between Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and Thanh Cong Group of Vietnam to sell its rubber factory.
Kumho Tire Co is planning to invest some 340 billion won (£217 million; 255 million euros; US$298 million) in expanding its tyre production facilities in Vietnam. The planned investment aimed at bracing for an increase in demand from North American markets and mitigating tariff-related price pressure, according to local news sources.
Vietnam Rubber Group says it achieved its revenue and profit targets for 2020, reporting profit of VNĐ5 trillion (roughly US$200 million) on sales of VNĐ25.477 trillion ($1 billion), according to the Vietnam News Agency. As a result of these figures, the company reports that its goals include restructuring and increased investment in the rubber sector with possible mergers that would help close the rubber tyre and tube products value chain.
Vietnamese officials have interpreted the US Department of Commerce (DOC) anti-dumping investigation preliminary conclusions as “very positive” for Vietnam-produced car tyres. There was even hope that cooperative Vietnam-based tyre manufacturers Local newspapers read this mean Vietnamese tyre factories had been “cleared” by the investigation.
During today’s extraordinary shareholders meeting, its first of 2021, Sailun Group confirmed plans for the third phase of expansion at its wholly-owned Sailun (Vietnam) Co., Ltd. subsidiary. Over a three-year period, the company will invest 3.01 billion yuan (£340.1 million) to equip the site with the capacities to produce 3 million car and light commercial vehicle tyres, one million truck and bus radials, and 50,000 tons of off-the-road tyres per annum.
Anti-dumping duties as high as 98% may be applied to passenger vehicle and light truck tyres entering the USA from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on 30 December that it will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of these products.
Maxam Tire has expanded its construction tyre portfolio with an all-new telehandler tyre produced in the company’s recently-inaugurated solid tyre factory in Vietnam. It’s called the Maxam MS709, and Maxam says it has engineered the tyre to “provide the industry with a rugged and long-lasting solution for demanding construction applications.”
Five months on from its groundbreaking ceremony, the first pictures from Shandong Jinyu Tire’s new Vietnam truck and bus radial tyre factory show the progress made so far. At its May 2020 event, Jinyu said the new tyre manufacturing plant would have an annual capacity of 2 million tyres in its first stage, supplying mainly European and North American markets. At its completion, due March 2024, Jinyu would have an annual capacity of 7 million TBR tyres, with a global sales footprint.
On 4 September 2020 Guizhou Tyre Co. Ltd’s board of directors approved plans for a private share issue. The plan was to raise 1 billion yuan in funding via the sale of now more than 200 million shares to 35 selected investors. By 11 September, the company had received the green light from the state-funded Guiyang Industrial Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd. that it would purchase no less than 43.5 per cent of the issued shares.
Speciality tyre manufacturer Maxam Tire has opened a new advanced and automated solid tyre production facility. It said the new facility represents “a major commitment to the speciality solid tyre segment.” Maxam added that the plant is “strategically aligned to better serve today’s market demands through compound advancement and automated technology.” Sources within the Sailun Group told Tyres & Accessories that the factory is located in Vietnam.
Jinyu Tire Group hosted the groundbreaking ceremony of Jinyu (Vietnam) Tire Company Ltd’s 2 million tyre a year factory in Phuoc Dong Industrial Park, Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam on 18 June 2020. Local industrial park leaders as well as customer, supplier and construction representatives attended on the behalf of Jinyu Tire Group partners in light of the Covid pandemic
In the USA the United Steelworkers (USW) union has filed antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) petitions on dumped and subsidized passenger vehicle and light truck (PVLT) tyres with the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission
Guizhou Tire recently broke ground on two new tyre production facilities near the firm’s headquarters in Guizhou, Guiyang province. According to Asian Rubber Journal reports, when operational, the first – a $307 million plant – is expected to generate nearly $426 million annually. Capacity is salted to be 3 million truck tyres a year.
The joint venture between Cooper Tire & Rubber Company and Sailun Vietnam Co, Ltd has produced its first tyre. ACTR, facility located near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam [MoIT
Tyrepress.com / Stephen Goodchild
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Guizhou Tyre
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