ZC Rubber becomes the fourth Chinese tiremaker to target Sokhna + Refad adds dry storage at King Abdulaziz Port

Egypt's tire export hub takes shape

China’s largest tiremaker is circling Sokhna. Zhongce Rubber Group (ZC Rubber) — founded in 1958 and maker of the Westlake and Chao Yang brands — signed a letter of intent with Egypt’s SCZone to study a USD 500 mn tire manufacturing complex in the Sokhna Industrial Zone, according to an Investment Ministry statement. The proposed three-phase complex would span c. 600k sqm, with the company targeting 95% of output for export to African, Middle Eastern, and European markets.

IN CONTEXT- The move came during Chinese president Xi Jinping’s first state visit to Egypt in a decade this week. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Xi oversaw the signing of five agreements and MoUs, plus more than 20 cooperation documents, according to a statement from the Egyptian Presidency spokesperson. The five agreements run from an MoU aligning Egypt’s Vision 2030 with China’s Belt and Road, through economic and technical cooperation, industrial and supply chain, and information technology MoUs, to one between the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) authority and China’s Commerce Ministry.

And there’s a cluster forming behind it. ZC Rubber is at least the fourth Chinese tire-sector investor to target Sokhna in the past year — after Sailun’s USD 1 bn plant, which broke ground in September 2025, Chaoyang Longmarch’s USD 190 mn factory, and Zenith’s USD 300 mn tire-components plant. Egypt is being assembled — project by project — into a Chinese-built tire-export base on the Red Sea, close to Suez and inside the trade agreements that open Africa, the Gulf, and the EU.

Refad adds dry storage at King Abdulaziz Port

Refad is expanding at King Abdulaziz Port: The Saudi real estate developer is building a Grade A dry warehouse on an 18.5k sqm plot — with more than 12k sqm of warehouse space — and is targeting completion in 2027, Sabq reports. The facility will hit 18.8 meters at its peak, with seven loading and unloading gates, dock levellers, industrial flooring, and circular truck routes, all built for higher-throughput operations.

Refad is doubling down at the port: Refad previously partnered with Maersk on a refrigerated storage facility at King Abdulaziz Port, spanning 13.3k sqm and designed to handle 168k pallet positions a year, according to a press release.