Egypt announces €1bn greenfield tire factory project

Cairo – Rolling Plus Chemical Industries has signed an agreement with the Egyptian government to build a €1 billion greenfield tire manufacturing plant in the Suze Canal Economic Zone, in the northeast of the country.

Finnish technology company Black Donuts Engineering (BDE) will provide technical support to Rolling Plus.

The “state-of-the-art” facility will span 400,000 square metres, and with the annual production capacity of 7 million tires, said BDE in a 20 Sept statement.

The project will be completed in three phases and will eventually manufacture tires for passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, and heavy commercial vehicles.

Phase I will see an investment of €400 - €450 million in the construction of the factory and dedicated production lines for passenger car tires, with an annual capacity of 2.5 million tires.

The capacity, according to BDE, can meet 50% of the local market’s tire demands.

In phase II, production will be extended to light commercial vehicle tires bringing the overall capacity to 3.5 million units a year, and meeting 40% of local demand for light truck tires.

The final phase will bring overall capacity to 7 million units per year and will also include the production of commercial tires, said BDE.

The statement did not provide a timeline for the project.

The move is aimed at “localising” tire production technology in Egypt and is expected to create 1,000 direct and indirect job opportunities.

In a statement to ERJ, Black Donuts said it has been working with Rolling Plus since the inception of the project and will continue the partnership in finalising the execution phase of the contract.

In addition to the being the engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) partner, BDE will also provide training at the later stages of the project.