Linglong moves Anhui factory address

On 30 December Linglong announced that it would adjust the construction of its seventh production base in China. The construction location of the project was changed from Lujiang, Anhui, to Lu’an, Anhui. At the same time, the tyre manufacturer’s Lu’an factory is preparing to build a project with an annual output of 14 million sets of high-performance radial tyres and a project to regenerate via retreading and material recovery 30,000 tons of waste tyres. In the original design, Linglong’s seventh factory in China was intended to have an annual production capacity of 14.6 million sets of radial tyres.

Linglong said that the energy consumption index of Hefei City, where Lujiang is located, is insufficient, and the energy assessment of the original factory cannot be approved. Therefore, the tyre manufacturing company relocated the factory’s construction site to the Lu’an High-tech Industrial Development Zone. It is reported that energy assessment refers to the analysis of construction projects to calculate the consumption of various energy sources. In recent years, to cooperate with implementing the “carbon neutrality” and “peak carbon dioxide emissions” policies, Chinese governments, at all levels, need to ensure that the total energy consumption within their jurisdictions does not exceed the targets given in the plan.

According to the plan, the Linglong Lu’an plant will produce 12 million sets of semi-steel radial tyres and 2 million sets of all-steel radial tyres. The total investment of the tyre manufacturing project is 5.1 billion yuan (about £614 million; 695 million euros), and it is planned to start construction in April 2023 and be complete by March 2029.

In addition, Linglong’s regenerate waste tyres project is scheduled to start construction in January 2024 and be completed in December 2026 and will be constructed in two phases. After the project is completed, it can process 30,000 tons of waste tyres per year. Among them, 10,000 tons of truck and bus tyres will be retreaded, and 20,000 tons of waste tyres will be used to produce liquid reclaimed rubber and other products. The total investment in the regenerate waste tyres project is 145 million yuan (about 17.5 million pounds, 19.8 million euros).

It is worth noting that Linglong also disclosed the “3+3” global strategic plan for OTR products. The tyre manufacturer plans to have OTR production capacity in three factories in China and three overseas production bases.

Linglong said that it plans to complete the “3+3” industrial layout before 2030 and finally achieve 30,000 sets of all-steel giant tyres, 470,000 sets of all-steel engineering tyres, 270,000 sets of agricultural radial tyres, 50,000 sets of diagonal agricultural tyres. 200,000 sets of diagonal engineering tyres and 600,000 sets of other OTR products. The budget for the “3+3” strategy is 4.689 billion yuan (about £565 million; 639 million euros). After reaching total capacity, Linglong will be able to produce 330,900 tons of OTR products per year.

The “3+3” layout is a supplementary part of Linglong’s “7+5” strategy. According to Linglong’s vision, they will eventually have 12 manufacturing plants worldwide, of which 6 production bases will produce products, including OTR.