Yokohama factory expansion to boost Philippine rubber sector

The $640-million expansion of the Philippine subsidiary of Japanese manufacturer Yokohama Tire Corp. is expected to spur growth in the Philippine rubber industry, according to a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) official. Yokohama is expanding its production to 50,000 tires a day by 2017 in the Philippines, according to  DTI Undersecretary Merly M. Cruz.

Yokohama Tire Philippines, Inc.'s plant is located inside the Clark Freeport Zone and presently produces about 21,000 tires daily. Only 6% of raw materials are sourced locally at present but this is targeted to rise by 50% by 2017. The Philippine government is currently pushing for a 40% growth in the local rubber industry over the next four years. There are about 306,000 hectares of rubber plantation in the country.

The Philippine government has been putting its bet on the rubber industry as one of the sectors targeted by the Trade department's P700-million support program for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The program is expected to provide shared processing facilities, microfinance and capacity building training to MSME clusters, primarily agri-based industries.

Yokohama, in announcing its expansion last year, said a portion of the expanded facility will be come on stream by next year, with full utilization seen by 2014. The facility was established in 1996 to manufactures tire with internal diameters of 13 to 18 inches for passenger cars and sports utility vehicles. It employs 1,950 workers.

Aside from its Philippine plant, the company is also hiking production in Japan, China, and in the United States. It also opened a factory in Russia last May to bring Yokohama's global production capacity to 60 million tires a year.