South-Korean tyre producer Hankook Tire, one of the world's top ten industry players with annual sales in excess of 1.6 billion dollars, is planning to build a plant in Eastern Europe, either in Romania, Poland or Slovakia.
Hankook made its decision to build a plant in Europe since more than 20% of its sales of 1.6 billion dollars are derived from exports to Europe. Construction of the plant will start next year, and production will begin within two to three years.
For its part, French group Michelin, the world's largest tyre manufacturer, will this year begin a 60 million dollar investment and plans further investment aimed at raising production capacities in Romania, according to international agencies.
These moves confirm the rising interest in the Romanian market, where low labour costs help producers overcome the difficulties of recent years faced by car markers and the overall car market, the main customers for tyre producers.
This autumn, the Italian tyre producer Pirelli, the world's fifth largest manufacturer, announced it had started construction in Slatina of plant for metallic cords (one of the main components in tyre production) in a 40 million euro investment.
Cord Slatina, who will be the owner of the metallic cord plant, is in fact a joint venture Pirelli will enter into with the German tyre producer Continental, the fourth largest international player. Pirelli holds an 80% stake in Cord Slatina, with the rest owned by Continental.
The German group has in fact been active on the Romanian market since 1999, when it began construction of a plant into which it has so far poured more than 120 million euros. The plant, which is located in Timisoara, will this year reach an annual production capacity of 10 million units. ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
South-Korea
