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.