Sumitomo rubber to build 400-store network in China

Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. intends to establish a sales network of more than 400 stores in China within two years in and plans to take a 10 per cent share of the Chinese tyre market by 2010. The company, whose first tire factory in China will go onstream in April, aims to develop a customer base in China, where it currently has almost no sales.

Sumitomo Rubber teamed up with Tyre Pacific (HK) Ltd. of Hong Kong to create a joint venture to oversee sales in China. The joint venture, SRI-TP JV Co.