Longmarch breaks ground on €160m tire factory in Egypt

Ain Sokhna, Egypt – China’s Longmarch Group has broken ground on a EGP9.5 billion (€160 million) tire manufacturing project in Egypt, according to a 17 June statement by the general authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

"Longmarch Tyre (Egypt) Ltd" is being implemented in the integrated industrial zone of Ain Sokhna and will be built on an area of about 200,000 square metres, said the release.

The project will be carried out in two phases, the first of which will aim to produce 600,000 units of trucks and buses (TBR) per year.

In the second phase, the plant will increase TBR capacity to one million units per year and add the capacity to produce 4.5 million passenger car tires annually.

The tires, said the release, are aimed at the local market with export opportunities to ‘regional and international markets.’

Speaking during the ceremony, Jin Yong Sheng, Longmarch chairman said the the Suez Canal Economic Zone was providing “an attractive and stimulating investment environment” for the tire maker.

He emphasised that the project represented “a strategic step" in the company's expansion, leveraging Egypt's "prime geographical location and the competitive advantages and integrated logistics services offered by the Suez Canal Economic Zone.”

Operational since 2003, Longmarch currently operates a production base in Chaoyang, China, and a tire joint venture in Pakistan, where it produces all-steel truck and bus tires and has recently announced plans to add PCR capacity.