SRI breaks ground on Turkish plant

ERJ staff report (TB)

Tire Business Staff Report

Cankiri, Turkey — Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd broke ground on 18 Sept on the $500 million joint venture car and light truck tire plant factory it is building in Cankiri in partnership with Abdulkadir Ozcan Lastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., a leading Turkish tire distributor and parent of tire maker Petlas Tyre Industry & Trade Co.

The ground-breaking ceremony comes a year after the partners agreed to create thejoint venture, known as Sumitomo Rubber AKO Lastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. (SAT).

Sumitomo and Abdulkadir Ozcan anticipate the plant will be in production by July 2015. Daily capacity is expected to be 30,000 tires, by late 2019, with 2,000 employees. The plant is being built on a 250-acre site.

Sumitomo President Ikuji Ikeda, SAT President Norifumi Fujimoto and the chairman of Abdulkadir Ozcan hosted a group of more than 50 local industrial and government representatives at the ceremony.

Sumitomo earlier said the company will serve as a strategic base for both production and sales of tires bound for the Middle East, North Africa and Russia and fits into SRI's "Vision 2020" growth strategy.

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Article from Tire Business