Chinese Tire Giant Sentury Doubles Investment in Morocco, Expanding Production to 12 Million Tires Annually

More than $193 million. This is the amount that Qingdao Sentury Tire intends to invest in phase II of its light vehicle tire plant project in Tangier. Currently, the construction work on this plant is ongoing. This new investment, which will be dedicated to financing a new production line, will provide an additional annual production capacity of 6 million tires, reports Le Matin. Thus, the group’s total production capacity will increase to 12 million tires per year for the two operational production lines, and Qingdao Sentury brings the total investment in its Moroccan plant to $490 million, the initial investment being 285 million euros.

To read: Spanish Auto Parts Giant Antolin Expands Operations in Morocco, Citing Economic Growth

In order to materialize the construction of its tire plant in Morocco, Qingdao Sentury Tire had acquired in March a 20-hectare plot of land in the Mohammed VI City -Tanger Tech. The construction work should last 18 months. As soon as the project becomes a reality, the Chinese tire giant will be able to supply the European market, the Maghreb, Africa and the United States. A delegation of representatives of the Chinese group led by Lanny Lin, CEO of the Chinese giant’s plant in the United States, was meanwhile at the office of Omar Moro, president of the Tangier-Tétouan-Al Hoceima region. Opportunity for them to finalize the formalities for the creation of the Moroccan entity under the name Sentury Tire Morocco.

This project is part of Qingdao Sentury Tire’s internationalization strategy initiated in 2015, with the opening of a plant in Thailand and then in the United States, but also of the "One belt, one road" initiative launched by the Chinese authorities to stimulate the industrial fabric and trade on the old Silk Road covering Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.