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China-Africa Trade Information Service
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China-Africa Trade Information Service
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Egypt signed on Wednesday a $1 billion agreement with China’s Sailun Group to establish a large-scale, world-class tire manufacturing facility in the Ain Sokhna Integrated Zone.
CEO of TEDA Egypt Cao Hui and President of Sailun Group Xie Xiaohong inked the deal in the presence of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.
The project will be developed over three years in three phases on a 350,000-square-metre site within the TEDA Egypt industrial developer area, part of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone).
The first phase is set to produce three million passenger car tires and 600,000 truck and bus tires annually, with completion targeted for 2026. Upon full completion, the facility’s total annual capacity will exceed 10 million tires, serving both domestic demand and export markets.
During the signing ceremony, PM Madbouly stressed that the project aligns with Egypt’s ambitious strategy to localize the automotive industry and related manufacturing supply chains.
He praised the SCZone’s promotional efforts and its success in attracting investment in a priority sector for deepening local manufacturing.
Madbouly also called for continued public-private cooperation to achieve regional leadership in automotive manufacturing within a short timeframe, citing Egypt’s national road, tunnel, and port development projects as key enablers.
These, he said, boost the SCZone’s readiness to attract foreign direct investment and link manufacturing and logistics hubs to targeted global markets, particularly given the zone’s competitive investment incentives and pro-business policies.
Meanwhile, SCZone Chairman Waleid Gamal El-Dien said the tire manufacturing project represents a cornerstone of the authority’s strategic plan to localize the automotive industry, as part of Egypt’s national automotive localization strategy launched from the East Port Said Integrated Zone.
The SCZone, he noted, is working to develop integrated industrial clusters to support the automotive sector and its value chains.
He also highlighted that the authority’s recent promotional tour in China included site visits and meetings with leading electric vehicle and battery manufacturers, as well as a roundtable with six of China’s top auto parts and accessories makers.
He said these engagements aimed to identify the latest automotive technologies and map out the full investment requirements for similar projects, including energy, utilities, land, and labour.
Sailun Group, founded in 2002, is one of China’s largest automotive tire producers, with factories in China and Vietnam. Its global output exceeds 26.6 million TBR (Truck and Bus Radial) tires, 88 million PCR (Passenger Car Radial) tires, and 310,000 tons of OTR (Off-the-Road) tires annually.
The company’s sales and logistics network spans more than 180 countries and regions.
The planned Sokhna facility is expected to serve as a central regional manufacturing base, meeting demand in Egypt and neighbouring markets.
Around 2,800 Chinese companies are currently operating in Egypt, with total investments surpassing $8 billion, according to the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI).
The authority projects that Chinese investments will climb to $12 billion by the end of 2025.
