Hyundai invests in machinery plant
O Estado de S. Paulo
South Korean Hyundai group will invest US$ 150 million in the setting up of a plant for construction machinery and equipment in Brazil until the middle of next year. It will be the first unit of heavy equipment of the brand outside Asia. With an annual productive capacity of up to 5 thousand units - among bulldozers, backhoes and front-end loaders -, the plant shall open nearly 650 direct jobs. The announcement was made yesterday, in São Paulo, by John Lim, president of Hyundai Heavy Industries for the Americas, division of the group that produces machinery and equipment.
"We still have not define the location, but four States are in the dispute for the investments: São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo", said the Korean Executive, who came to Brazil for the inauguration of a distribution center of BMC - Brasil Máquinas de Construção, current distributor of the brand and partner in the investment in the future plant.
According to him, the definition of the municipality where the plant will be installed will follow criteria such as nearness to the consumer center, ease of supply of components of local manufacturing and quality of manpower, besides the tax incentives offered by the State and Municipal governments. The executive that has already been on a visit to the Country twice told the plant shall be installed in an industrial condominium, which shall prevent any problems for the attainment of environmental permits.
The initial forecast was to start the production of machines and equipment for construction in the Country only in 2012. Now, the company wants to start the production in July next year. In the first phase of the investment, estimated at US$ 100 million, the capacity of the plant will be of three thousand machines a year. With an additional investment of US$ 50 million, the company intends to get to five thousand machines a year.
Besides the unit for the production of machinery, the Korean group Hyundai has another project in progress in the country, a car plant in Piracicaba (SP), an investment of US$ 600 million. Together with the assembly line of compact cars, to go into operation in 2012, at least eight manufacturers of autoparts should land in the city and together they will invest another US$ 250 million. The land for the plant has been donated by the Municipal Administration, but works are behind schedule, according to sources, due to problems in obtaining the environmental permit.