Wednesday, September 19, 2012

No. 618: Sumitomo Rubber goes to Turkey (September 19, 2012)

Business trend:
Sumitomo Rubber will build a plant to produce automobile tires in Turkey with an investment of 40 billion yen. The construction will start in 2013, and the plant will go into operation in 2014 or 2015. This is Sumitomo’s first plant in Turkey. The company currently exports to Europe and the Middle East from Japan. It will establish a joint venture company with a Turkish local company. This plan is to increase the efficiency of logistics besides avoiding the risk caused by high yen. The Turkish government has been promoting a policy to stimulate investments from abroad to develop its domestic industry.

Thanks to the growing demand for automobile tires in foreign countries, Sumitomo’s domestic plants are operating nearly at full capacity. Sumitomo Rubber is building a plant in Brazil that is scheduled to go into operation in October 2013. Bridgestone is already producing tires in Turkey and scheduled to make another investment, and the Yokohama Rubber has started producing tires in Russia. Japanese tire makers are expanding their markets to newly industrialized countries where the car market is growing fast. 

 
Introduction of Sumitomo Rubbers’ booth 
in the Tokyo Motor Show in 2011

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