Nexen to Build Chinese Plant

Nexen is to break ground on the building of its new Chinese tyre factory on 12 May. The site, situated in Qingdao is expected to begin production by early 2008. The new plant will have a capacity around 5 million units and will increase the company’s total capacity to 20 million tyres. Nexen is reported to have budgeted $80 million dollars for the plant

The news comes as part of Nexen’s wider international expansion plan. Following the opening of a London distribution office last year, Nexen opened a wholly owned subsidiary in China in January in preparation for the factory project. A Panama office is expected later this year, with French and Italian branches scheduled for 2007.

The company already holds product certification for its tyres in China and Brazil, neither of which are easy to come by. However both of these are indications of how far developed Nexen’s plans to open offices in Panama and China are. Nexen’s Korean headquarters aside, the company currently runs branches in Australia, UAE, the US and Germany. The company’s London and New York offices are offshoots of its German and US offices respectively.