SNUOL DISTRICT, Cambodia — China's Qingdao Doublestar Group held a cornerstone-laying ceremony recently for a tire plant it's building in Snuol District, in Cambodia's Kratie Province.
The new factory, designed with a nameplate capacity of 7 million passenger and 1.5 million truck/bus tires, is a joint venture involving Doublestar and Cambodia's U.B.E. Development Co. Ltd.
The project carries a budget of $210 million, Doublestar Tyre said. The plant will span 4.3 million square feet when complete.
Construction is expected to be completed within 15 months of groundbreaking, Doublestar Tyre said earlier this year, and once fully operational the enterprise is projected to deliver annual sales of up to $400 million with a net profit margin of about 20%.
Among those attending the cornerstone-laying were Chai Yongsen, premier of Kratie Province, Zhang Qirong, chairman of Doublestar Group, other executives of Doublestar Group and U.B.E., and government leaders.
Doublestar and U.B.E. have established a joint venture in Cambodia, Doublestar (Cambodia) Tire Co. Ltd., to oversee the project based in the Kratie Special Economic Zone in eastern Cambodia roughly 150 miles northeast of Phnom Penh and about 100 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, the nearest world-class shipping harbor.
U.B.E. is described as a Phnom Penh-based private enterprise engaged in agricultural and industrial activities as well as in import-export.
The Kratie zone covers roughly 3.5 square miles with first-phase construction covering about a third of that, according to Cambodian sources.
Doublestar — which owns controlling interest in South Korea's Kumho Tire Co. Inc. — is considered the world's 29th largest tire maker, based on 2021 revenue of $1.16 billion.
