Taiwan’s Kenda Rubber has plans to increase its presence in Vietnam and invest NT$10 billion in a large passenger car tire plant, Tyres & Accessories reports.
The new plant could be Kenda’s largest tire factory and have production capacity rivaling Kenda’s operation in China, T&A said.
Revenues from Kenda’s tire production in China account for about 70% of the tiremaker’s total sales, Kenda chairman Ying-Ming Yang told Channel NewsAsia.
With the 39.33% anti-dumping tariff Chinese-made Kenda consumer tires face entering the U.S., boosting production in Vietnam would allow the company to avoid the tariff when shipping passenger tires to the U.S.
Yang also mentioned plans to invest $100 million in Indonesia to meet domestic market demand. The Indonesia and Vietnam locations feed Kenda Rubber’s planned expansion in the ASEAN region, which the company plans to make its main production base within the next ten years.
