BINH PHUOC, Vietnam—Officials in Vietnam's Binh Phuoc Province have given Chinese tire maker Shandong Haohua Tire Group the green light to proceed with construction of a passenger and truck tire plant valued at $500 million.
The province awarded Haohua Tire an "investment registration certificate" to build the factory, rated at 12 million radial car tire and 2.4 million truck/bus tires, provincial authorities said at a Sept. 11 ceremony.
Haohua Tire plans to build the factory in Minh Hung Sikico Industrial Park, to the east of Binh Phuoc province, on a plot of land spanning 106 acres. Construction is set to start in the first quarter of 2024, the authorities said, after completing investment preparation procedures.
The plant is projected to start production by the third quarter of 2025. The project represents as many as 1,600 local jobs and 200 "foreign jobs," the authorities said, and could generate as much as $770 million in revenue annually.
The plant is expected to consume over 260,000 metric tons of rubber, with up to 80% of that sourced locally.
This would be Shandong Haohua Tire's second overseas factory. The company has three plants in China with an overall nameplate capacity of 5 million truck/bus tires and 20 million passenger tires per year, and is in the process of building a plant in Sri Lanka.
Shandong Haohua, which goes to market under the Aplus, Compasal, Lanvigator and Royal Black brand names, reported sales of $909 million in 2022, making it No. 10 among Chinese tire makers and No. 34 globally, according to Rubber News' Global Tire Report.
Haohua disclosed plans in 2020 for an "export-orientated" tire factory project in Hambantota, Sri Lanka. At full capacity, the plant—operating as Ceylon Tire Manufacturing Co. (Pvt.) Ltd.—would be rated 3 million truck/bus tires and 17 million passenger tires.
