Sundram Fasteners plans high tensile fastener plant in China

Chennai: Sundram Fasteners, the city-based fasteners major, will be setting up a high tensile fastener plant in China through a wholly owned subsidiary, Sundram Fasteners (Zhejiang). The $5-million (6,000 tonnes per annum tpa) plant will be put up in the Haiyan Economic Development Zone (HEDZ), Haiyan county, Zhejiang province.

With this Sundram Fasteners will be the first Indian engineering company to invest in a plant in China.

While the initial investment has to be made in five years' time, Sundram Fasteners has plans to invest up to $12.5 million, based on the demand. Two years back the company established a marketing office in China.

“We have to crack the growing Chinese automobile market. We can also export to Korea and Japan from there,“ says Sundram Fasteners chairman and managing director Suresh Krishna. “After assessing the Chinese market it was found that there is a need for a reliable, high-quality fastener supplier to meet the needs of the growing automotive industry.“

The market demand for automobile components is vast in China as the country produces 1.7 million commercial vehicles and busses and 1 million cars. “We will first look at the commercial vehicles sector and later the passenger car segment,“ adds Krishna.

Even in India, a major portion of Sundram Fasteners' bolts goes to commercial vehicle manufacturers. Automobile and non-automobile companies like General Motors, Delphi, Komatsu and Cummins have evinced interest in sourcing from Sundram Fasteners' proposed Chinese plant.