South Korea-based Kumho Petrochemical Co. stunned the market last year with a positive earnings surprise in the third quarter of 2020. The company posted an operating profit of 213.7 billion won ($194 million), almost triple the amount from the year-earlier period, thanks to the soaring sales of NB latex during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NB latex is a type of synthetic latex used to make industrial, cooking and surgical gloves.
Kumho Petrochemical did not expect the boom to continue as overseas competitors began to aggressively expand their production. Industry watchers projected NB latex prices to plunge due to the oversupply.
But they were wrong. The price of NB latex posted $1,822 per ton last month, up by 15% from the previous month and a staggering 92.6% increase from the same period last year.