Ashraf AboArafe
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly witnessed today, at the Cabinet headquarters in the New Administrative Capital, the signing of an agreement to establish a tire manufacturing plant by Sailun Group of China — one of the world’s leading tire producers. The ceremony was attended by Lieutenant General Kamel El-Wazir, Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Industry and Transport, and Walid Gamal El-Din, Chairman of the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE).
The agreement was signed by Mr. Cao Hui, Executive Director of TEDA Egypt, and Mr. Shi Shaohong, Chairman of Sailun Group.
The project will be located within the integrated Sokhna Industrial Zone, developed by TEDA Egypt under the SCZONE, covering an area of 350,000 square meters. It will be implemented in three phases over three years, with a total investment of $1 billion (around EGP 50 billion).
The first phase will produce 3 million passenger car tires and 600,000 truck and bus tires annually, with operations scheduled to begin in 2026. Upon completion, the plant’s total annual production capacity will exceed 10 million tires, serving both the Egyptian market and international exports.
Prime Minister Madbouly affirmed that the project is a key step in implementing Egypt’s ambitious strategy to localize the automotive industry and related manufacturing value chains. He praised SCZONE’s investment promotion efforts, particularly in attracting global manufacturers to this strategic sector.
He emphasized the importance of continued public-private cooperation to position Egypt as a regional leader in automotive manufacturing in record time, leveraging the nation’s extensive infrastructure of ports, roads, and tunnels, alongside the SCZONE’s competitive investment incentives and pro-business policies.
Walid Gamal El-Din stressed that the tire manufacturing plant is a cornerstone in SCZONE’s vision to create integrated industrial clusters for the automotive sector, in line with Egypt’s national automotive localization strategy launched from East Port Said.
He added that SCZONE’s recent promotional tour in China included site visits and meetings with leading electric vehicle manufacturers, battery producers, and component suppliers. These engagements aimed to explore the latest automotive technologies and assess investment requirements, from utilities and infrastructure to workforce and land needs.
Sailun Group is among the largest tire manufacturers globally, with annual production capacities exceeding 26.6 million TBR tires, 88 million PCR tires, and 310,000 tons of OTR tires. Its sales and logistics network spans more than 180 countries. The planned Sokhna plant is set to become a central regional hub to meet demand in Egypt and neighboring markets.
