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Kumho Tire shares skid after weekend fire disrupts production

Published: 19 May. 2025, 18:52

Officials from the National Forensic Service, police and fire authorities inspect the scene at Kumho Tire’s Plant in Gwangju on May 19. [YONHAP]

Shares of Kumho Tire, Korea's No. 2 tire maker, slumped 8 percent on Monday after a massive fire suspended operations at its factory in Gwangju on Saturday, threatening to disrupt its supply to global automakers.

Fire authorities had extinguished 90 percent to 95 percent of the fire, but the blaze destroyed a majority of the western part of the factory in the southwestern city.

A Kumho Tire spokesperson told Reuters that it may have to revise down its target of raising its revenue by 10 percent to 5 trillion Korean won ($3.58 billion) this year due to the fire.

The company, which has for years been trying to move its outdated factory in Gwangju, had not yet decided whether to rebuild the facilities, the spokesperson said.

The factory complex in Gwangju has the capacity to produce 12 million tires a year, accounting for nearly 20 percent of Kumho's global production capacity, she said.

The company's customers include Hyundai Motor, Volkswagen Group and Mercedes-Benz.

Kumho Tire is seeking to increase production at other factories to make up for lost output, though the scope of expansion may be limited because the plants, at home and abroad, were running at full capacity, the company said.

Reuters