This undated file photo, provided by POSCO Future M, shows a worker at the company’s newly completed precursor plant in Gwangyang, about 290 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 10 (Korea Bizwire) — POSCO Future M Co., the battery materials unit of POSCO Holdings Inc., said Tuesday it has completed a key production facility as part of efforts to establish a fully integrated domestic supply chain for battery materials.
The precursor plant, built within the existing cathode materials complex in Gwangyang, about 290 kilometers south of Seoul, has an annual output capacity of 45,000 tons, enough to supply batteries for about 500,000 electric vehicles, the company said in a press release.
“In addition to building a nickel supply network across POSCO Group, the completion of this precursor plant allows us to complete a self-sufficient system covering raw materials, intermediate materials and cathodes,” the company’s President Eom Gi-chen said in the release.
He said the facility will help bolster the competitiveness of South Korea’s battery industry amid ongoing global supply chain realignments.
In the battery industry, a precursor refers to the intermediate material stage before becoming cathode active material.
The company expects the new plant will help reduce vulnerabilities stemming from shifting global trade policies.
As of March, more than 90 percent of Korea’s precursor imports came from China. However, under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, batteries that use Chinese-made precursors are no longer eligible for tax credits due to the application of Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) rules starting this year, according to market tracker SNE Research.
(Yonhap)
