Sumitomo enters local tire market

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Sumitomo CEO Ikeda and Economy Minister Çağlayan shake hands. AA photo

Japanese Sumitomo Rubber Industries and Abdülkadir Özcan Otomotiv Lastik AŞ (AKO), a local tire producer, announced Sept. 21 a joint investment worth $513 million to build a production facility in the Central Anatolian province of Çankırı.

The protocol ceremony was held in an Ankara hotel and attended by Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, Chairman of the Turkish Prime Ministry Investment Support and Promotion Agency İlker Aycı, Sumitomo Rubber Chief Executive Officer Ikuji Ikeda, and Chief Executive Officer of AKO Mustafa Ozcan.

“We believe that supplying tires to target markets and Europe from Turkey, which shines out with its location, will greatly benefit our company in terms of delivery time and transportation costs,” said Ikeda, adding that the company planned to grow in developing Middle Eastern, North African and Russian markets.

“We will be happy if we can get a 10 percent market share in Turkey by 2023,” he said, adding that Turkey was seen as a strategic hub for the company.

The production, 80 percent of which will be exported, is planned for June 2015, said Özcan.

Çağlayan said the investment would receive a 60 percent tax discount and a public contribution to the employer’s social insurance liability for 10 years, within the scope of the new incentive scheme. Turkey’s foreign trade volume in the tire industry amounted to $500 million in the first seven months of the year, he added.