US-based Ball Corp to invest in Thilawa SEZ

 

The company announced its plan on Friday in Yangon after it has signed a lease contract to set up its production plant in the Myanmar-Japan joint venture in SEZ.

“We are a leading manufacturer of steel and aluminium cans,” said a company official.

“In the first phase, Ball plans to invest $40 million and will raise the capital outlay to $100 million. The project will kick off as soon as possible and the production of beverage cans is to commence by July 2015,” said Min Tala Nyan, country manager for Ball Asia Pacific’s Myanmar Plant.

Established 130 ago, Ball Corp is the market leader for can production. The company plans to sell beverage cans to the beverage manufacturers, he added.

In a related development, Japanese ambassador Takeshi Higuchi who was present at Ball Corp’s contract signing also announced another business deal between a Japanese auto parts manufacturer and the special economic zone. 

Toyo, a business conglomerate from Japan, will invest and construct its plant for car radiators in Thilawa special economic zone, said Ichiro Maruyama, minister-counsellor at Japanese embassy.

“Japan’s leading manufacturer for motor parts is preparing to build its plant in Thilawa SEZ. Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development is in talks with the company. The plant would be established in Myanmar. Raw material would be imported from Japan for the production of vehicle spare parts,” he said.

“This is Myanmar’s first-ever special economic zone – a national project supported by the governments of Myanmar and Japan. It is encouraging news that American and Japanese companies should sign respective contracts on the same day. I strongly believe that this would further cement the cooperation of Japan, the US and Myanmar. Japan will continue to support infrastructure development of the Thilawa zone under the Official Development Assistance programme,” said the ambassador.