Indian off-road tire manufacturer Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT) has announced a US$100m construction project for a new production site in the USA. This will be the company’s first manufacturing facility overseas. The project has been approved by the board of directors and is now in its initial stage.
It is commonly known that Europe is BKT’s largest sales market, accounting for more than half of turnover. Yet the Americas are becoming an increasingly interesting and expanding sales market too.
This positive outlook was what led to the company’s decision to establish a wholly owned subsidiary in the USA to set up the greenfield factory.
The plant is designed to have a yearly production capacity of about 20,000 metric tons of off-road tires. Target markets are the replacement and OE segments in the USA. The rest of the worldwide demand will be catered for directly from India.
The company is in the process of looking for an appropriate location, and aims to have chosen one by the end of this year so that land acquisition can be done by the end of the first quarter of 2019. Project completion is expected by March 31, 2021.
Above: The new BKT factory in the US will complement existing facilities in India
