"The company has been reviewing possible plant sites in Central Europe including Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia to supply products to the European markets, which has the highest proportion of Hankook Tire's exports," Hankook said in a statement after it signed an agreement with Hungarian government officials Monday. "In the end, Hungary had the edge over the other candidates countries in terms of logistics and production costs, skilled workers, accessibility to Western Europe and pro-active government cooperation," the company said. The factory, built as a greenfield investment, will employ 1500 workers in the first phase. On top of that, the investment is expected to help create 1500 additional jobs at small and medium-sized enterprises acting as suppliers, Hungary's Economy Minister Janos Koka said after concluding talks with the Korean firm. Construction of the factory will start in 2006, while operation is expected to commence in 2007 and reach full capacity by 2010. Annual production will total 10 million tires for cars and light trucks, helping Hankook boost its global output from 58 million tires this year to a planned 70 million by 2008.