Nankang Rubber to Build for Michelin 5M. Passenger Car Radials

Taipei, Oct. 30, 2008 (CENS)--Nankang Rubber Tire Corp., a top-three passenger-car tire maker in Taiwan, reportedly won from Michelin a US$150 million order to build about five million passenger car radials.

Nankang Rubber will ship the order from its plant in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province of China within five years.

Nankang Rubber's mainland Chinese subsidiary Nankang (Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone) Latex Industry Co., Ltd., a tire maker and distributor, recently signed a contract with a "world-class" brand (reportedly Michelin) to supply five million radials, with the order to begin delivery from December 1 this year. Nankang Rubber, however, refused to comment due to the confidentiality agreement.

Nankang Rubber said that the new, sizable order would raise the equipment-utilization rate at its Zhanjiagang factory by 30%, which is expected to lower production cost and increase profitability.

In the first half, Nankang Rubber exported lesser large-sized passenger radials to the United States due to overall downturn in the automotive market and the gloomy credit crunch, but said that, however, a clear rebound is visible stateside thanks to the falling fuel prices.