Sentury details plans for Morocco tire plant

SHENZHEN, China—Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd. has announced the details of its $297 million tire production project in Morocco.

The announcement follows the company receiving a "certificate of overseas investment of enterprises" from local authorities in Qingdao.

In a June 5 stock exchange filing, the Chinese tire maker said it had completed registration of Sentury Tire (Morocco) Co. in Tangier, Morocco.

Construction work on the project is set to begin in July and is expected to take 18 months to complete, Sentury said.

Once fully operational, the plant will have capacity to produce 6 million car and light truck tires per year, with output in the first year reaching 3.6 million units.

In addition to the Morocco investment, Sentury is progressing with a planned $590 million greenfield tire production project in Galicia, northwest Spain.

Sentury unveiled the Spanish project in December 2021, under its "833Plus" strategy to build eight "intelligent tire manufacturing bases" worldwide over a decade.

These will include three plants in China; two in Thailand; one each in Europe, Africa and North America; and three global R&D centers in China, Europe and North America.

Sentury currently operates a 15 million units per year plant in Jimo, China, in the Shandong province, and a site in Rayong, Thailand, with a capacity of 5 million units per year.

The Spanish plant will have a total annual output of 12 million radial tires and is to be completed in two phases over a 36-month period.

The first phase, expected to be completed in 24 months, will have a production capacity of 6 million units.

By 2025, production will reach 12 million units, according to Sentury's previous announcements.