Chinese tyre manufacturer Linglong has launched serial production at its plant in Serbia's northern city of Zrenjanin, Serbia's government said.

Serbia's president Aleksandar Vucic said during the ceremony marking the production start the factory was the biggest greenfield investment in the country, with an estimated value of about EUR1bn (US$1.1bn).

SeeNews.com said Vucic stated the factory would export EUR200m worth of products this year and EUR500m in 2025.

Production of truck tyres at the Zrenjanin factory started in 2023, followed by the production of passenger car tyres in early 2024, Linglong reportedly said earlier.

It had broken ground for the plant in April 2019 which was planned to produce 13m tyres per year.

Last August, SeeNews.com noted, Linglong said it planned to invest $645m to expand annual production at the plant by 1.1m sets of various high performance radial tyres.

It also has a factory in Thailand and five in China.

Linglong operates in Serbia through subsidiary Linglong International Europe, the report added.