Doublestar setting up Kazakhstan JV tire plant

Qingdao Doublestar Tire Corp. is setting up a joint venture truck and OTR tire plant in Kazakhstan that will become the Chinese company’s manufacturing center for Central Asia and the former Soviet bloc countries.

The venture, to be called Kazstar Tire, will be built in Oskemen, a city of about 300,000 in far eastern Kazakhstan that is the administrative center of the nation’s East Kazakhstan Region.

Regional officials recently approved the venture, which reportedly will have annual capacities for 600,000 radial truck and 15,000 bias-ply OTR tires. The parties are budgeting $110 million for the project.

Doublestar’s partner in the venture is L.L.P. Kazindustriservis, a tire sales and services company, which will own 72.5 percent, Doublestar said.

Positioned as a bridge between the European and the Asian continents, Kazakhstan is the fastest growing economy among CIS countries with a stable political environment, according to a statement on Doublestar’s website.