Linglong relocates planned tire facility in China

SHANGHAI—Shandong Linglong Tire Co. altered its plans for its seventh production facility in China, which was originally announced in August 2021.

In a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange Dec. 31, 2022, the Chinese tire maker said it had changed the planned location of the facility.

The process has involved terminating an investment agreement with the government of Lujiang County, Hefei City, in the Anhui Province.

Instead, the company signed an investment agreement with the local authorities of Lu'an City, Anhui Province, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Luijiang.

With the move, Linglong said it was "fine-tuning" the project, adjusting the scale of radial tires for trucks and buses and adding a waste tire recovery unit.

The new $767 million facility will have an annual output of 14 million sets of high-performance radial tire project.

Production is to encompass 12 million passenger car and light truck radial tires as well as 2 million sets of radial truck and bus tires.

This differs from the original plans, which were to produce 12 million units of passenger car tires and 2.6 million units of truck and bus tires each year.

To be located at the Anhui Lu'an High-tech Industrial Park, the facility will also include a "waste tire recycling" unit with the capacity to process 30,000 metric tons per year of end-of-life tires.

Of that amount 10,000 tons per year will be used for tire retreading, while 20,000 tons per year will be used to produce liquid reclaimed rubber and other products, Linglong said.

Linglong aims to start construction work on the project in April and to "fully complete" the plant by March 2029.

The new plant is part of the company's "7+5" business strategy which aims to complete seven plants in China and five globally by 2030.

It will be Linglong's seventh China plant following existing and planned ones in Zhaoyuan, Dezhou, Liuzhou, Jingmen, Changchun and Tongchuan.

The company also started production at its first overseas facility in in Zrenjanin, Serbia late last year.