Setting up factories abroad is not only encouraged by China’s Belt and Road initiative, it is also provides a means of avoiding the tariffs on China-made tyres charged by the USA and a number of other countries. Qingdao Fullrun Tyre Corp. Ltd. recently shared that, after numerous visits from company president Liu Zijin and a team of managers, on 28 September an agreement was signed for the company’s first overseas production facility. The plant will be built in Malaysia and is expected to enter operation in May 2017.

Malaysian newspaper The Star writes that the factory will be incorporated under the company name Golden Horse Rubber Sdn Bhd (although Qingdao Fullrun gave the name as Jinma Rubber & Tyre Tech Corp. Ltd. in October), and reports that the Chinese tyre maker signed a further memorandum of understanding on 30 November with the Port Klang Free Trade Zone (PKFZ), near Kuala Lumpur. The publication adds that Qingdao Fullrun will invest US$200 million in the initial phase of its factory project.