Invest KOREA

According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's largest chemical company by sales, said Thursday it will invest 500 billion won (US$423 million) over the next five years to build a new cathode material production plant in the country.

The new plant in Gumi, some 200 kilometers south of Seoul, will produce cathode, one of the key materials for electric vehicle (EV) battery production.

LG Chem said the new plant will have an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons, which is enough to make batteries for 500,000 EVs.

The Gumi plant will be LG Chem's third cathode plant in South Korea.

The latest move is part of LG Chem's plan to beef up its insourcing capability for key EV materials. Currently, the company only supplies 20 percent of cathode material input on its own, but it aims to increase that figure to at least 35 percent.

It is also in line with the company's plan to boost its battery business, which aims to achieve 31.6 trillion won in sales by 2024 from last year's 6.5 trillion won.

LG Chem was the world's fourth-largest shipper in EV batteries in the first half with a capacity of 8.4 gigawatt hours, according to data by SNE Research.


kdon@yna.co.kr

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Source: Yonhap News (July 25, 2019)