SEOUL, Sept. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – Hankook Tire Co., South Korea’s leading tiremaker, ranked seventh in the global tire market last year in terms of revenue, and its smaller local rival Kumho Tire Co. took 14th, according to an industry report on Wednesday.
Hankook Tire logged US$5 billion in sales last year, down 5.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the U.S.-based industry magazine TireBusiness.
Its smaller local rival Kumho Tire Co. raked in sales of $2.4 billion last year, down 9.5 percent over the cited period, and its standing marked a slide from the 13th spot.
The report said the global tire market was estimated to be worth around $151 billion last year, down 5.6 percent from a year earlier. It attributed the decline to the decrease in sales by Chinese players which were slapped with higher import duties in some countries.
Bridgestone Corp., the world’s largest tiremaker, took the top spot with sales of $22 billion last year, the report said.
(Yonhap)