First tires roll out of Linglong's Serbian factory

SHANGHAI, China — Shandong Linglong Tire Co. Ltd. has initiated production at its greenfield tire plant in Serbia and disclosed plans to expand capacity for off-highway tires at a plant in China, the company stated in a financial report submitted to the Shanghai Stock Exchange recently.

"The first tires were rolled off the production line, which is a strategic step for the company in terms of matching products with the European market," Linglong said in the Aug. 26 financial filing.

The Chinese tire maker disclosed plans in 2018 to build the $994 million plant in Zrenjanin, in northern Serbia.

The facility is slated to produce 13.6 million radial tires per year: 12 million passenger tires, 1.6 million truck/bus tires and 20,000 off-the-road tires.

Linglong claims in the filing that the new plant is a "world-class smart factory" featuring advanced manufacturing equipment and industrial cloud capabilities that incorporate technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and 5G.

Construction work in Serbia, Linglong said, was carried out "in an orderly manner," adding that the company "strictly complied with the relevant laws of Serbia on the environment."

The project drew scrutiny throughout its duration for reported environmental and human-rights abuses.

In early 2021, 26 members of the European Parliament called on the legislative body to compel Serbia to enforce existing environmental laws at the plant's construction site, and earlier this year the same body called for in investigation into the allegations that surfaced in Serbia that the Chinese company overseeing the construction of factory was housing roughly 500 workers from Vietnam in near-squalid conditions.

The European Parliament got involved because Serbia is seeking entry into the European Union.

In addition to the progress at the Serbian factory, Linglong also reported that it "steadily advanced" several other projects currently under construction.

These included ramping up production at a factory in Changchun, Jilin Province, whose first-phase capacity was listed as 1.2 million passenger tires and 200,000 truck/bus tires by 2025.

Linglong now plans to add capacity for up to 140,000 off-highway tires a year at the plant, according to the document.

Furthermore, Linglong said the second-phase project of its Hubei Jingmen factory reached production, and the third-phase project is under way.

Once fully operational, the Jingmen plant will have annual capacity of 12 million car tires, 2.4 million truck/bus tires and 60,000 off-road tires.

Linglong is represented in the U.S. by an office in Medina, Ohio, although the majority of business is carried out directly with sales representatives in China.