Teijin advances automotive rubber business in Thailand

ERJ staff report (PR)

Tokyo, - Teijin Group is increasing its automotive rubber materials business in Thailand by establishing Teijin FRA Tire Cord (Thailand) Co. Ltd. in partnership with Ayaha Corp. - a Japanese company specialising in tire cord production. The link-up will be via Teijin Ltd and Teijin Frontier Co. Ltd - the group’s fibre-product converting company.

Teijin also announced that it will expand the production capacity for automotive hose cord at a separate subsidiary, Teijin Cord (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

These moves, said Teijin, will help to accelerate sales to Asia’s expanding automotive industry, by strengthening its local supply of automotive rubber materials, such as tire cord and hose cord, to customers in China and the ASEAN region.

The new joint venture will be established on the premises of Teijin (Thailand) Ltd located in Bang Pa-in Industrial Estate, Ayutthaya, in June. It will begin with a 16,000-tonne annual capacity from October 2015.

The company will start with capital of $11.7 million, which will be shared in the ratio of Teijin–10%, Teijin Frontier–56.66% and Ayaha–33.34 percent, the Japanese group added. The new tire cord plant will be equipped with twisting, weaving and adhesion facilities.

Combining Teijin and Ayaha’s processing technologies and Teijin Frontier’s converting capabilities, the plant will produce highly processed rayon, aramid and PEN (polyethylene naphthalate) tire cords for high-performance tires, said Teijin. The unit, it added, will also produce polyester and nylon tire cords for general tires.

Teijin Cord (Thailand), located in the Rojana Industrial Park of Ayutthaya, is also scheduled to expand its automotive hose cord business from next April: increasing its adhesion facility’s annual capacity by 70% at a cost of $900,000.