Nokian tires will continue to be manufactured in Asia

The company Nokian Tyres, which recently officially opened a new plant in Oradea (Romania), and previously also expanded existing production in Finland and the USA, will continue to cooperate with offtake partners that currently produce tires under the Finnish brand.

Nokian's capacity building is due to the fact that the company sold its plant in Russia to "Tatneft", where it produced about 80% of tires for passenger cars and SUVs. Contract manufacturing agreements were signed with companies such as Sentury, Sailun and Kumho, and they will not be terminated after the Oradea plant reaches full capacity, as "a certain flexibility is required in working on various markets".

As noted by the senior vice president for procurement of Nokian, Adrian Kachmarczyk, whose words are quoted by Pneus News, before leaving Russia, the company produced about 16 million tires per year in the country, of which 50% were sold on the local market, another 6.5 million units were supplied to Europe, and the rest to North America.

Like other Western manufacturers, Nokian currently does not supply tires to Russia, and the volumes that were previously exported to the North American market can now be compensated for by the plant in the USA. At the same time, it is also necessary to satisfy the existing demand in Europe, and at the moment Nokian intends to maintain supplies from Asia, which currently amount to up to 3 million tires per year. The declared capacity of the Romanian plant is 6 million tires per year, but the company said that there is a possibility for expanding production in the future.

According to Kachmarczyk, the volumes of supplies from China will be reduced with the launch of commercial serial production in Oradea, scheduled for early 2025, however, the company "will continue to maintain partnership relations" with Asian manufacturers.