China-based Guangzhou Vanlead Group is set to commence work on a $1bn tyre manufacturing plant in Orangeburg County, South Carolina in the first half of 2018.

The facility will be executed in phases with the first phase is set to be executed with an investment of $600m.

Upon completion of the first phase, the plant is expected to have a capacity to six million passenger car tyres per annum. The second phase will add truck tyre manufacturing to the site.

The project is anticipated to create about 1,200 jobs.

Vanlead chairman Fu Shoujie said that the lower cost of land and certain utilities in the USA counterbalances higher labour and construction costs, making the overall cost of tyre manufacturing there comparable to production costs in China.

Shoujie added that the firm is planning to establish a research centre in Europe and a joint research facility in Ohio, US.