RUMA, Serbia—Trelleborg A.B. expects to start phasing in new capacity at its Serbian tire production plant in the third quarter of 2018, according to a company spokeswoman.
The Trelleborg representative said in a statement that the expansion program at the Ruma facility in north Serbia would increase production capacity by more than 50 percent.
The spokeswoman declined to disclose investment figures for the project.
The Swedish company gained the plant through the acquisition of Czech tire and rubber goods maker CGS Holding AS, parent of tire manufacturer Mitas.
Trelleborg had previously stated that Serbia "is well located in Europe considering both logistics and closeness to markets including Ukraine and Russia, and has a favorable cost base."
CGS's Mitas business unit last invested in the Ruma plant in 2014 to help it meet rising demand from markets in southern and eastern Europe and the Middle East.
That project was scheduled to run through mid-2016 and boost annual capacity of bias and radial agricultural tires to 35,000 tones.
Mitas bought the plant in 2008 from the former GPX International Tire Corp., whose predecessor company, Galaxy Tire & Wheel Inc., had bought it five years earlier.
The Ruma facility opened originally in 1981, operating under the Ruma-Guma AD name.