China-based tyre manufacturer Shouguang Firemax Tyre Co., Ltd., has made plans to invest in a radial tire production facility in Cambodia, according to recent Chinese media reports.
The overseas expansion project has been initially valued at $190 million.
Once operational, the company’s new Cambodian-based facility is expected to boast an annual capacity to manufacture 8 million passenger car radial tyres and 1.2 million truck and bus radial tyres.
In a statement by the Weifang Municipal Taxation Bureau recently, the Chinese municipal authority noted that they were undertaking cross-border tax services to facilitate the local tyre manufacturer’s overseas investment in the Cambodian factory.
While more details on the investment are yet to be disclosed, Wang Guangjie, Financial Director of Shouguang Firemax, has highlighted the company’s confidence in the potential of the Cambodian investment endeavour.
Headquartered in Shouguang, Weifang, Shandong province, China, Shouguang Firemax Tyre Co., Ltd. was founded in 2011.
Better known as Firemax, the company specializes in the design, development, production and processing of various semi-steel radial tyres in line with international safety and quality standards, including PCR, UHP, SUV, Commercial Van, LTR and Winter type tyres.
The company produces tyres under the ‘Firemax’ and ‘Kpatos’ brands, and exports to over 100 countries worldwide.
Firemax currently operates a tyre production facility in China with the capability to produce 12 million units of passenger car tyres, and 1 million truck and bus tyres annually, according to the company’s website.
According to a chemanalyst.news report, the sizable Firemax investment earmarked for a Cambodian production facility aligns with a broader trend of Chinese tyre manufacturers venturing into Cambodia.
According to the report, Chinese tyre firms are spurred toward satellite factories in the Kingdom by the tightening trade barriers in Western markets, particularly the United States and Europe, against Chinese tyre imports Other large Chinese tyre manufacturers are also eying the Kingdom’s market for increased production and supply capacity.
One of China’s largest car tyre manufacturing firms, Wanli Tires, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Industrial Investment Holdings Group, is currently in the final stages of feasibility studies for a substantial tyre factory investment in Cambodia. The venture valued at close to $500 million.
Similarly, Sailun Group, another major player in the Chinese tyre industry that is already active in Cambodia, is in the process of dramatically increasing the size of its production facilities in the country.
Operating under Cart Tire Co. Ltd. in Cambodia, the company already has two active production facilities, with a third under construction scheduled to be completed and inaugurated in November of this year.
All three factories are expected to produce a total of 33 million tyres annually.
Based on Cart Tire reports, one factory will use up to 30 percent of the total annual rubber production of Cambodia.
Once operational, all three factories are estimated to utilise 90 percent of Cambodia’s total rubber tree yield annually.
Jiangsu General Science Technology Co. Ltd., another large Chinese manufacturer, will also increase its Cambodian-based tyre manufacturing, with a slated expansion project in the works valued at close to $300 million.
Newbustar (Cambodia) Tire Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of China’s Qingdao Doublestar Group, has also begun to build a $138 million tire factory in the Kratie province.
The expansion of large global tyre manufacturers into the Kingdom comes on the back of China’s tyre sector experiencing a significant demand resurgence in 2023, with last year seeing strong demand from global automobile industry. khmertimeskh
