Construction on Yokohama Rubber's natural rubber processing factory will begin in January

Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. and Teck Fu Joint Venture Co. Ltd. will build a natural rubber processing factory in the Surat Thani Province of southern Thailand. Teck Fu is a subsidiary company of Teck Bee Hang Co. Ltd., which is a natural rubber processing company based in Thailand.

Yokohama, which controls 95% of the joint venture, says the company hopes to stablize both the supply and quality of natural rubber by operating its own factory.

Construction of the factory will start in January 2009; Yokohama says the factory is scheduled to begin operation in October of the same year.

Yokohama mainly purchases natural rubber from Thailand and Indonesia. Teck Bee Hang has been one of the largest suppliers to Yokohama in Thailand. However, Teck Bee Hang's current natural rubber processing factory is located near the Malaysian border area, an "insecure location," according to Yokohama.

The joint venture is named Y.T. Rubber Co. Ltd., and capitalized at 100 million baht (approximately 300 million yen). One billion yen will be invested for the construction of the new factory, with a planned monthly production capacity of 3,000 tons.