Giti confirms Chongqing truck tyre plant closure

Giti Tire closed its Chongqing, China truck tyre factory in November 2015 the company has confirmed. This means that roughly 90 per cent of the plant’s 1,100 workers will lose or have already lost their jobs, leaving around 100 staff in work.

Local news reports suggested the factory was closed for environmental reasons. However, company representatives played this down and said the move was due to economic conditions and was part of Giti’s ongoing industrial strategy.

Huai Chin Lei, Giti group managing director told Tyres & Accessories the closure was as much to do with town planning as anything else: “The plant is within an urban area due for city development. The closure of TBR production in Chongqing has been scheduled for a while with no impact expected on supply and sales for markets, it therefore should not negatively affect customers. No products currently manufactured in this plant were for European markets.

“We are deploying other plants to fulfil production requirements. The key objective is to streamline TBR production facilities, improve our efficiency and further strengthen competitiveness.”

Company representatives also told T&A that the facility will be “converted to other uses” following the closure of truck tyre production in Chongqing.