Chinese tyre manufacturer Sailun Group on Tuesday laid the foundation stone for a new $1bn factory in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE), a project aimed at localising the automotive industry in Egypt. Walid Gamal El-Din, chairperson of the SCZONE General Authority, attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the plant, which will be located within the TEDA-Egypt industrial developer's area in the Sokhna integrated industrial zone. "The Sailun project is a strategic step towards localising the automotive industry and strengthening Egypt's position as a regional centre for production and export," Gamal El-Din said. The project, which is being built on an area of 350,000 square metres, is one of the largest Chinese industrial investments in Egypt, with a total investment of $1bn. It will be implemented in three phases over three years. The first phase is expected to have a production capacity of 3 million passenger car tyres and 600,000 truck and bus tyres, creating 1,500 jobs. This phase is scheduled to begin operations in 2026. The total production capacity of the factory across all its phases is planned to exceed 10 million tyres annually, meeting the needs of the local market and opening wide prospects for export to regional and international markets. "This giant project is a fundamental pillar of the authority's strategy to localise the automotive industry and its related value chains," Gamal El-Din said, adding that the new factory reflects the growing confidence of global investors in the SCZONE's investment climate. Sailun Group is a major Chinese industrial entity specialising in vehicle tyre manufacturing, with factories in China and Vietnam. The company has a sales and logistics network covering more than 180 countries and regions worldwide. The new factory in the SCZONE will serve as a central manufacturing base to meet the growing demand in the local market and regional markets.
