Bridgestone to spend $26.7 million on Indonesia rubber plantations
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Bridgestone Corp is seen next to its new Playz tyre during the tyre's unveiling event in Tokyo, Japan, January 8, 2016. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
TOKYO : Japanese tyremaker Bridgestone Corp said on Wednesday it will invest $26.7 million by 2030 to enhance productivity of natural rubber plantations it owns in Indonesia to secure sustainable supplies of the raw material.
The company aims to double harvest volumes of natural rubber in a given area in 2035 compared with projected 2022 volumes, it said in a statement.
The fund will be used to introduce elite trees with
stable harvest volume, which are selected by genome analysis technology, and other advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence image analysis to diagnose and detect disease in Para rubber trees, it said.
Bridgestone has two plantations in Indonesia, a 17,900 hectare (ha) plantation in Sumatra and another 6,000 ha one in Kalimantan.
