Sumitomo Rubber, Conti ‘to make major investments in Brazil’

Curitiba, Brazil - Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) will invest R$1,060 billion (€197 million) in its tire factory in Fazenda Rio Grande, Brazil, the regional government has announced.

Confirmation of the investment, it said, followed a recent trade mission by Parana state officials to Japan and South Korea, organised by inward investment agency Invest Paraná.

Established in 2013, the 1,500-employee plant has a listed capacity of 2,500 tonnes/month for Dunlop brand passenger car, light truck and truck & bus tires.

SRI's investment should generate 1,000 direct and indirect jobs and increase global sales for the Paraná plant, said a 13 April announcement by Parana State News Agency 

SRI, it noted, supplies tires to Toyota, VW, Honda and Iveco In Brazil and elsewhere to Nissan, Ford, Subaru, Audi, Porsche, Mitsubishi and Mercedes-Benz.

The Parana state announcement mirrors one issued by SRI in July 2021: a R$1,060 million plan to increase production capacity at the Fazenda Rio Grande unit.

Passenger car and light truck tire capacity was to rise from 18,000 to 23,000 units/day by April 2024, and truck & bus tire capacity from 1,000 to 2,200 units/day a year later.

In the same statement, the Parana state government said Continental was investing R$175 million in an expansion of its conveyor belt plant in Ponta Grossa, Campos Gerais.

The project, it said, is to expand the unit by 7,000m2, to 49,000m2 and will mark the introduction of ‘high resistance’ conveyor belt technology to Brazil.

“It is yet another investment that will bring more development, employment and income to the people of Paraná, said state governor Carlos Massa Ratinho Junior.

The investment will also “further strengthen the industrial sector and reinforce our position on the national scene”, Ratinho Junior added in the state agency announcement.