Jinyu breaks ground on first plant in Vietnam

Chinese tire maker Jinyu Tire Group Co. Ltd. has broken ground on a truck and bus tire plant in Tay Ninh — its first factory in Vietnam — that the Qingdao, China-based company said will be rated at 2 million tires a year

The company — which is separate from Sailun Jinyu Tire Group — held a small ceremony June 18 with local officials, suppliers, clients and the project's contractor on account of the coronavirus outbreak.

Jinyu did not disclose the size of its investment in this factory nor a timetable for completion. The project is located at the Phuoc Dong Industrial Park in Tay Ninh province, adjacent to Ho Chi Minh City. The plant's manufacturing process will be connected and digitalized to raise the level of automation, streamline operation as well as facilitate decision making, the company said.Jinyu will become the third Chinese tire company with a factory in VIetnam. The others are Sailun Jinyu, which has three plants there, and Guizhou Tyre Co. Ltd.

Sailun Jinyu operates a passenger/light truck tire plant that opened in 2014, a truck/bus and OTR tire plant that opened in 2017/18 and is the joint venture partner with Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. in a truck/bus tire plant that went into production earlier this year.

Sailun Jinyu Group also earlier this year disclosed plans to double capacity for radial truck and bus tires at its plant in Liaoning, China, to 6 million units a year by 2022. Sailun is budgeting $285 million for that project.