Becamex IDC Corp., developer of the industrial park, and Kumho yesterday signed a 50-year land-lease contract, allowing for Kumho to build a 40-hectare factory in the park.
Sae-Chul Oh, president and CEO of Kumho, said that the company would pour $155 million for the first phase of the project, which would start late this year. When coming into operation in early 2008, the factory will be able to produce 3.15 million radial auto tires a year, for sale on the local market and for export to the U.S, Europe and ASEAN countries, he said.
The company would also build a rubber-processing factory in the province, where there are vast rubber plantations, to provide raw materials for tire manufacturing, he added.
“The two factories will be our start on the way to approach the Vietnamese market as well as other ones in the region.”
The project in Vietnam is part of the company’s production expansion plan, which will help the company become the fifth biggest tire manufacturer in the world.
