Hankook Tire posted a 12.9% increase in year-on-year sales in the second quarter. This accumulated to KRW 2,039.9 billion. Operating profit stood at KRW 175.2 billion, marking a 6.3% decrease from the 3 months to 30 June last year.
The company credited the decline to external challenges experienced in the rise in the cost of raw materials and global supply-chain disruptions.
“Q2 sales volumes and operating profit… [declined] due to the market impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, lockdown in China and historically high inflation rates,” said Hankook.
However, Hankook noted that the second quarter’s profit increased by 39.0% compared to the last quarter. Aggregate sales increased by 13.9%.
The gains were attributed to “an increased share of sales due to high-value-added products as well as effective pricing strategies.”
Large diameter passenger car tires remained a key engine for growth as sales accounted for 39.1% of the company’s sales of passenger car tires. This saw a 1.1% increase.
The biggest contributor was the Chinese market with sales of large-diameter Hankook tires for passenger cars up by 11.5% year-on-year to 51.8% total sales. Korea came in second up 3.4% to 50.5% while Europe posted a 0.5 point increase.
“Further growth in consolidated revenues also came from strong sales on the North American market of both OE and replacement tires,” the company added.
Hankook also said that it aims to achieve double-digit growth this year and raise its sales share of large-diameter tires to 42% of total sales of passenger car tires. The tiremaker plans to focus on gaining leadership in the EV segment.