The Cambodian tyre market is set to witness a significant boost as two new tyre factories with a combined investment capital of nearly $700 million enter the country.
The two tyre factory investment projects were approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) in August 2024.
According to the CDC, the investment project is to establish a tyre factory located in a Special Economic Zone in Kratie province’s Snuol district with an investment of $430 million and would create nearly 2,000 jobs.
The second investment project is to set up a tyre factory in the Special Economic Zone in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet city with an investment of $256 million and can create 1,500 jobs.
This influx of investment is expected to not only create jobs but also contribute to make markets for rubber plantation owners and farmers, which have so far depended on exports of their rubber latex, said Lim Heng, vice-president of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce.
“If there is a demand for rubber from domestic rubber factories, it will help create markets in the country to farmers and plantation owners and companies to sell their raw rubber,” Heng told Khmer Times.
It will not only increase the number of rubber growers but also attract more foreign investors to grow rubber in Cambodia, which can expand the area. Rubber plantations are also on the rise, he said.
Cambodia currently has three existing tyre factories operating in Svay Rieng, Preah Sihanouk and Kratie provinces.
The Kingdom exported a staggering $308 million worth of car tyres in the first five months of 2024, reflecting a significant 204 percent increase compared to the $101 million recorded during the same period last year, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce.
Cambodia has planted rubber trees in a total area of 407,172 hectares, in which the trees on 320,184 hectares, or 78.6 percent, are old enough to be tapped, according to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries.
Over 173,915 tonnes of natural rubber latex were exported in the first seven months of 2024, slightly up 1.72 percent from 170,968 tonnes over the same period last year, said the report.
The Kingdom exports the commodity mainly to Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and China.
