Doublestar to build tire plant in Algeria

Qingdao, Shandong – Doublestar is planning to build a new plant in Algeria with 2 million unit annual capacity for truck and bus tires and 5 million unit for passenger car tires.

Subsidiary Hong Kong Doublestar International signed an agreement earlier this year with Algeria’s Sarl El Hadj Larbi Pneumatiques to set up a joint venture for the project, the Chinese tire maker announced in its first half results statement.

Doublestar will invest $5 million (€4.5 million) in the project, while the Algerian firm will inject €222 million into the plant, the location of which has not been disclosed.

The two parties will also jointly establish a trading company in Dubai to sell tires made at the plant.

In the first half of 2019, Doublestar recorded sales of 2.2 billion yuan (€275 million), up 9% from the year before.

Net profit dropped 47% to €3.8 million and the company saw €5.5 million net loss less non-recurring items.

The company attributed the declines to the "expansion period" which raised products’ cost per unit.