Representatives of Nokian Tyres met Romania's prime minister Nicolae Ciuca in Bucharest on September 14. They were briefed on the state aid options in the context of the Finnish tire maker planning to relocate its production capacities from Russia.

At the end of June, the Finnish company announced that it was closing down its plants in Russia.

The talks with Romania's PM Ciuca focused on the state aid packages available for large investments in the country and on Romania's readiness to address the needs of those relocating industrial production capacities as a result of the Russian military aggression in Ukraine.

Until this year, Nokian Tyres had the largest factories in Russia, where the group concentrated about 80% of its production capacity, according to Ziarul Financiar. On the other hand, Russia and Asia used to account for approximately 20% of the net sales of the company.

Nokian could thus be the fourth largest tire manufacturer in Romania after Michelin, Pirelli and Continental. All the three big producers present have already invested constantly in the local factories.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Roman Vyshnikov/Dreamstime.com)