World's Third Largest Rubber Producer to Invest in Vietnam
Malaysia-based industrial rubber company Kossan plans to enlarge its product range in Vietnam and China by the end of this year, according to the company's Executive Manager, Lim Kuang Sia.
Kossan intends to manufacture rubber parts for automobiles in Vietnam, he said, adding that the company's products in China will be synthetic rubber gloves used for non-medical purposes.
Total investment for the plan, however, has not yet been revealed.
“Vietnam is a potential new market for Kossan’s technical rubber products, and the company is keen on adding different types of gloves for non-medical applications” he told analysts at a company’s meeting in Kuala Lumpur on March 2, expressing that Vietnam is an appealing destination for the company’s investments owing to its low labor costs and good investment environment.
Currently, Kossan is only doing some investment studies in Vietnam. We will only have something solid towards or in 2007, he said. Kossan is looking for growth opportunities overseas for its production capacity of six billion pieces in 2006 and 9.5 billion pieces by 2008.
In related news, Kossan is now the world's third largest rubber producer and the biggest rubber manufacturer in Malaysia. Surgical gloves accounted for 3 per cent of the company’s total output last year.
Thanh Nien Daily, VNA
Vietnamese
