NTC to build $1bn tire plant in Saudi Arabia

London – Saudi Arabia’s National Tire Co. (NTC) is planning to build a $1-billion (€830 million) tire manufacturing plant in the country, a company official has confirmed to ERJ.

Head of the project Farid Dudin told ERJ that the unit – the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia – will be built in Jubail, to the east of the country.

In an 11 Jan statement, NTC said it had signed an agreement on the turnkey concept design with Finnish engineering consulting firm Black Donuts Engineering Inc.

The project will create one of the “biggest and most modern individual tire factories in the world,” the Saudi company stated.

Black Donuts will supply full design for the highly automated factory, including the designs of production buildings, a power plant, utility buildings, training facilities, and an on-site mosque.

The plant, to be completed by the second half of 2020, will produce 16 million passenger car tires and 6 million TBR tires a year.

The facility is expected to employ around 4000 people at full capacity.

More details of this project will appear in the Jan/Feb issue of European Rubber Journal magazine.