Kolon Industries raising tire cord production by 60% in Vietnam

Seoul – Kolon Industries is expanding its tire cord production facility in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam to increase manufacturing capacity at the site by nearly 60%.

The South Korean supplier has earmarked KRW30 billion (€20 million) for the new plant, which will increase the factory’s overall capacity from 36 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) to 57ktpa, said Kolon 14 Jan.

The expansion will particularly see the addition of tire cord heat treatment equipment, which Kolon said was “a key process that determines both the quantity and quality of tire cord production.”

The company plans to repurpose idle equipment from its Nanjing plant in China, which suspended its operations in 2023 due to the local land development plans.

This, Kolon said, has enabled the company to reduce the costs of building a new tire cord production line from KRW200 billion to KRW30 billion.

The new line is set for commercial production by January 2027.

Kolon completed its last round of expansion at the Binh Duong tire cord facility in Vietnam in 2022 to bring the plant’s capacity to 36ktpa.

At the time, the group said its total tire cord production capacity was 103.2 ktpa.