Chinese tiremaker Haohua to invest $500 mln in southern Vietnam

China’s Shandong Haohua Tire has been okayed to build a $500 million factory in the southeastern province of Binh Phuoc.

Under the investment registration certificate granted Monday, the firm will build a factory called Haohua covering 43 hectares at Minh Hung Sikico Industrial Park. Construction of the factory is set to begin in the first quarter of 2024.

The plant’s annual output will include 2.4 million packs of steel radial tires and 12 million packs of half steel radial tires for trucks and other vehicles, with total output worth an estimated $770 million. The firm expects to employ 1,600 local people and 200 expatriates.

Once operational from the third quarter of 2025, the factory is set to consume nearly 120,421 tons of natural and synthesized rubber a year, including 96,506 tons sourced from Vietnam and the rest imported from China.

Binh Phuoc is currently the nation’s biggest rubber hub with over 240,000 hectares of plantations.

Shandong Haohua Tire is among the top 10 tire producers in China with an annual production of 20 million packs of half steel tires and 4.8 million packs of steel tires, 75% of which are slated for exports.

The new factory is set to become the biggest foreign direct investment (FDI) project in Binh Phuoc province, local authorities say. Industrial parks in the province are home to 102 Chinese-invested projects with a total registered capital of $538 million.

In the first seven months of this year, Binh Phuoc attracted 17 FDI projects worth $658.9 million. So far, the province has attracted 382 FDI projects worth $4.08 billion.

Binh Phuoc’s index of industrial production (IIP) grew 6.53% year-on-year in January-July, driven largely by an 8.86% growth in mining, 6.7% in manufacturing-processing, 2.75% in electricity production and distribution and 3.57% in water supply and waste-wastewater treatment.