SRI building new Brazil plant to meet growing demand for truck tyres

In order to furnish the Brazilian market with a steady supply of locally-made products, Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. is investing 312 million real (£73.0 million) to add a truck and bus tyre manufacturing capability to its site in Fazenda Rio Grande, Paraná state. The investment will cover the cost of erecting a new 13,400 square metre premises adjacent to the existing passenger car and truck tyre manufacturing facility, which entered operation in October 2013, as well as the purchase and installation of new production equipment. A March 2019 start to truck and bus tyre manufacture is scheduled, and the initial capacity will be 500 tyres per day. At this stage the tyre maker hasn’t disclosed planned employment levels for the new truck and bus tyre plant.

The company’s Brazilian subsidiary, Sumitomo Rubber do Brasil Ltda, currently meets local demand for truck and bus tyres with imported products. Sumitomo expects demand within this segment in Brazil to rise by around two per cent a year for the foreseeable future, and to secure a share of this ongoing growth without exposing itself to currency-related cost and pricing fluctuations, Sumitomo has decided to move away from a total reliance upon imports.

As of 31 December 2015, 1,271 people worked at the passenger car and light truck tyre factory, and at that date capacity for these products in Fazenda Rio Grande stood at 15,000 pieces a day. Sumitomo Rubber Industries intends to increase this capacity, and has announced its intention to invest 175 million real (£40.9 million) to raise passenger car and light truck tyre capacity to an unspecified level from 2017 onward.