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HELSINKI, March 15 (Reuters) - The Nordic region's largest tyre maker Nokian Renkaat said on Monday it had begun dissolving its joint venture with Russia's privately-owned Amtel and will strengthen its own Moscow-based sales network.
Ties between the firms, big players in the Russian tyre market, have soured this year after talks to extend the partnership failed, with Amtel saying Nokian was not meeting its duties in the 50-50 venture.
"Nokian Renkaat...has started a process with the target to terminate the operations of its Russian joint venture company," the Finnish company said in a statement.
Nokian and Amtel's joint venture aimed to make two million tyres this year and five million annually by 2006 -- a key plank in the Finnish company's plan to add volume to its output of about six million tyres in 2003.
Nokian Renkaat shares fell sharply last month after Amtel and Japan's Bridgestone unveiled a tyre deal that could hurt the Finnish firm's access to the huge eastern market, but the stock remains some 12 percent higher for the year.