Kelani Tyres to invest Rs.3.2bn to expand capacity

Kelani Tyres PLC yesterday said it would invest up to Rs.3.2 billion to increase its tyre manufacturing capacity and upgrade its machinery.

Under the capital expenditure programme, the company will increase the manufacturing capacity of  passenger car/SUV/UV/light van steel-belted tyres from the current installed production of 51,000 tyres to 61,000 tyres per month.

It also expects to increase the production capacity of motorcycle/scooter tyres from 41,000 to 57,000 a month. Further, under the investment plans, the company will replace the existing upstream tyre manufacturing equipment with the latest state-of-the-art machines to enhance capacity and the product offering of the full factory production to be in line with the  international standards.

Also investments will be made for an expanded range of tyres to include tyres of 17-inch rim sizes and above in car and SUV as well as on manufacturing tyres of high-speed ratings, lower rolling resistance and higher overall performance. “The above investments shall also enable future expansion for production to reach up to 100,000 passenger car/SUV/UV/ light van tyres per month with further investments in (only) balancing downstream tyre manufacturing equipment and required infrastructure and without any additional or minimal upstream (high cost) equipment,” a stock market filing by the company said.