Chinese tire companies expand production capacity in Egypt
It is reported that China National Chemical Rubber Co., Ltd. (CNRC) is planning to deploy tire production capacity in Egypt. One of the projects is to expand the capacity of the Prometeon Tyre Group factory it acquired, and the other project is to build a new factory.
Prometeon Tyre's production capacity doubles
In January 2025, local news in Egypt showed that China National Chemical Rubber is planning to expand the production capacity of its Prometeon Tyre in Egypt.
Prometeon Tyre's Egyptian factory is located in Alexandria, Egypt. It is one of the three major factories in Egypt. According to institutional data, the factory has an annual production capacity of 1.1 million tires, mainly producing truck tires. According to local media reports, China National Chemical Rubber seems to be interested in deploying another 1.1 million tires for this factory.
Due to Egypt's geographical advantages, industry insiders speculate that the expansion may be to increase supply to the European market. The current production capacity of the factory is 70% for export.
In addition to deploying truck tire production capacity, China National Chemical Rubber also seems to be interested in deploying passenger car tire production capacity in Egypt.
China passenger car tire production capacity in Egypt
According to local news, expanding truck tire production capacity is only one of China National Chemical Rubber's expansion plans in Egypt. The company also plans to build a passenger car tire factory near the existing factory, covering an area of about 180,000 square meters. However, more details have not been made public.
Prometeon Tyre Group is a commercial vehicle tire manufacturer from Italy. It previously belonged to Pirelli and specialized in commercial vehicle tire business. It has a strong brand influence in the four major market segments of freight, passenger, engineering and agricultural.
In June 2022, Fengshen Co., Ltd. received a letter from its controlling shareholder China National Chemical Rubber Co., Ltd. on the completion of the acquisition of 38% of the equity of Prometeon Tyre Group S.r.l. (PTG) by the rubber company.
The "letter" shows that China National Chemical Rubber Co., Ltd. signed an agreement with High Grade (HK) Investment Management Limited on December 30, 2021, intending to acquire its 38% equity in PTG and officially complete the delivery on June 28, 2022. This also means that PTG's 38% equity is entrusted to Aeolus for management.
It is not known whether the passenger car tire production capacity that China National Chemical Rubber plans to build in Egypt will belong to Prometeon Tyre or be a separate brand. But this plan once again shows us the changes in the layout of tire production capacity - more and more tire companies are beginning to expand their product matrix.
Since the second half of 2023, when the sales of passenger car tires produced in Asia exploded, many tire companies that previously only focused on truck tire production capacity have begun to deploy passenger car tire production capacity in overseas bases, intending to seize the opportunity of rising sales. And this time, whether Prometeon Tyre will also have the same operation is currently unknown.
In fact, China National Chemical Rubber's two major capacity expansions are both in the plan, so there are currently no further details on the project investment scale, capacity or construction schedule.
