In the first half of 2024, the tire industry continued to grow. While overseas investment accelerated, domestic cross-industry investment also flourished. Below is a mid-year review of new investments in the tire industry in the first half of the year.
Overseas expansion enthusiasm remains
First of all, the tire industry's enthusiasm for building factories overseas continues to grow. Zhongce and Sailun have set their sights on Indonesia and Mexico, while Shandong private tire companies have expanded their production footprint to Southeast Asia.
Specifically, ZC Rubber's Indonesian factory is under construction and will produce the first batch of products in October this year. The Mexican factory will hold a groundbreaking ceremony at the end of August this year.
Sailun Tire held a groundbreaking ceremony for its 6 million semi-steel radial tires per year project in Mexico in May, and announced that it would invest in a "3.6 million radial tires and 37,000 tons of off-road tires per year project" in Indonesia.
Guizhou Tire announced that it will implement an intelligent manufacturing project with an annual output of 6 million semi-steel radial tires in its Vietnam company, with a total investment of US$227.7632 million.
Shandong Firemax held a groundbreaking ceremony for its Cambodian factory in April. After completion and production, it will be able to produce 8 million semi-steel radial tires and 1.2 million all-steel radial tires per year; Zodo Tire plans to build a new factory project in Cambodia with an annual production capacity of 7.2 million sets of tires; Haohua Tire's annual production capacity in Vietnam will reach 14.4 million sets of tires and is expected to be officially put into production in the third quarter of 2025.
At the same time, Dongying Huasheng Rubber and Yongsheng Rubber also revealed plans to build factories overseas. Huasheng Rubber is planning to build a new tire factory in Cambodia, Yongsheng Rubber plans to build two PCR factories in Europe and Latin America, and to build two technical laboratory centers in Asia and Europe.
High enthusiasm for cross-border investment
In 2024, the number of foreign forces entering the tire industry is growing. In the first half of the year alone, three companies outside the industry announced investments in tire projects.
On March 28, the "Annual production of 12.5 million sets of all-electrically heated high-performance semi-steel tire project" was signed in Yunfu, Guangdong. The project has a total investment of 1.175 billion yuan and is jointly built by a media company and an asset management company.
On July 12, Ningbo Avon Trading Co., Ltd. signed the "Annual production of 6 million high-performance green and environmentally friendly semi-steel tire project". The project has a total investment of 1.8 billion yuan and is located in Huaibei High-tech Zone, Anhui Province. It is expected to start construction within the year.
The Jiangsu Huaian Kubison Tire project plans to invest 10 billion yuan to build an annual production capacity of 30 million sets of high-end semi-steel radial tires and 3.5 million sets of all-steel radial tires. The project will be built in two phases with a total land area of 645,403 square meters and the project has already started.
A major project with a total investment of 1.2 billion yuan in Xinluo District, Longyan City, Fujian Province -- Fujian Junchi all-steel radial tire project was successfully signed in February this year. It is currently in the land approval stage and is expected to complete the land supply work before the end of August.
In addition, Jianda Tianxia project with an annual output of 15 million new energy vehicle tires, located in the northern Jilin High-tech Zone, is aimed at revitalizing Jilin City Jixing Tire Factory. On March 22 this year, a contract was signed to attract investment of 3 billion yuan, and the first phase has now entered the countdown to production.
Most industries have been in recession in the past two years, but the tire industry has performed relatively well. Corporate performance has generally improved significantly, which is also the main reason for external forces to enter and invest.
Foreign investment continues to expand
In 2024, foreign brands' investment in mainland China did not slow down, mainly focusing on the expansion of passenger car tire production capacity.
Yokohama Rubber has further expanded its investment on the basis of the original Hangzhou factory, and plans to build a production line with an annual output of 14 million sets of tires in Qiantang (New) District. The new project will strive to start construction within the year and is expected to be put into production in 2026. The investment amount of this project is as high as 2 billion yuan.
On June 20, the fourth phase of Continental Tire's Hefei plant was completed and opened. After the fourth phase of the project is completed and fully operational, the Hefei base will be able to produce 18 million passenger car tires annually. Michelin Shenyang tire factory continues to invest 200 million yuan to utilize the existing factory buildings in the factory for construction. It plans to dismantle some truck and bus tire vulcanization lines and add passenger car tire vulcanization lines and tire storage areas to expand the production ability of passenger car tires.
The traditional tire manufacturing industry continues to develop. Although domestic tires have passed the golden period of rapid development, there is still much room for those confident leading companies to develop, and the intervention of more external forces may bring new vitality to the industry.
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