Sumitomo to make tires

Sumitomo to make tires

TOKYO (AFP): Japan's Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. said yesterday it had established a joint venture with an Indonesian firm and two other Japanese companies to make and market tires and golf balls in Indonesia.

Sumitomo Rubber will take a 55 percent stake in the venture -- PT Sumi Rubber Indonesia, capitalized at US$20 million -- while PT Indomobil Investment Corp. of Indonesia will take 30 percent, the major automobile tire manufacturer, said.

Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., Japan's largest maker of the electric wires and cables, will take a 10 percent stake with Sumitomo Corp., a major Japanese trading house, holding the remaining five percent.

Construction of the new plant will start in November with completion by April 1997. Tire production will start immediately after the completion, while golf ball production will start later that year.

The plant will have capacity to make 5,000 tires and 8,000 dozen golf balls daily, it said.