Lotte Chemical Accelerates Hydrogen Energy and Battery Material Business

2030 Sales Target of 50 Trillion KRW
Establishment of Hydrogen Energy Division and Battery Materials Division

Kim Gyo-hyun, Vice Chairman and CEO of Lotte Chemical, explains the hydrogen, battery, and recycling business strategies and ESG enhancement plans at the '2022 CEO IR Day' held at Conrad Hotel Yeouido on the 31st. (Photo by Lotte Chemical)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Lotte Chemical is set to actively pursue hydrogen energy and battery materials businesses. The goal is to achieve sales of 50 trillion KRW by 2030.

On the 31st, Lotte Chemical held the '2022 CEO IR Day' targeting 20 major domestic investment institutions and announced the business direction centered on this plan.

To respond to the fundamental changes in the petrochemical industry, Lotte Chemical decided to establish the Hydrogen Energy Business Division and the Battery Materials Business Division.

Hwang Jin-gu, Head of Basic Materials Business, will concurrently serve as the head of the Hydrogen Energy Business Division, and Lee Young-jun, Head of Advanced Materials Business, will serve as the head of the Battery Materials Business Division. The Hydrogen Energy Business Division plans to secure leadership over the entire hydrogen business process by securing overseas ammonia and building infrastructure. To this end, they will import blue and green ammonia produced overseas to supply a total of 1.2 million tons of clean hydrogen domestically by 2030, and realize the 'hydrogen business promotion roadmap' through charging station projects and power generation projects via joint ventures.

The Battery Materials Business Division aims to grow into a core company in the supply chain connecting electric vehicles, batteries, and materials, with an investment of about 4 trillion KRW and a target of achieving approximately 5 trillion KRW in related business sales by 2030.

Lotte Precision Chemical and Lotte Aluminum, part of the chemical group including Lotte Chemical, have already made direct and indirect investments in the four major battery materials and are currently discussing various synergy plans through cooperative relationships.

Additionally, Lotte Chemical plans to sell more than 1 million tons of recycled plastic by 2030 and will focus on securing related technologies and constructing facilities.

Lotte Chemical is the number one domestic producer of PET bottles and invested about 80 billion KRW in 2021 to build a chemical recycling PET (C-rPET) plant with an annual capacity of 110,000 tons at the Ulsan Plant 2.

Meanwhile, to strengthen Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) management, Lotte Chemical plans to become the first domestic petrochemical company to join RE100 (sourcing 100% renewable energy for product manufacturing) by next year. Through direct power purchase agreements (PPA) for renewable energy and hydrogen energy utilization at domestic sites such as Yeosu, Ulsan, and Daesan, as well as overseas sites in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United States, they plan to achieve 60% renewable energy use by 2030 and 100% by 2050.

Lotte Chemical also announced a shareholder return policy on a three-year cycle. Starting this year, to stabilize dividend cash flow, they will conduct an interim dividend for the first time and proceed with a total of 300 billion KRW worth of treasury stock purchases over three years.

Kim Gyo-hyun, Vice Chairman and CEO of Lotte Chemical, said, "We will build a system capable of sustainable growth by strengthening ESG competitiveness in existing businesses and entering green new businesses, and grow into a company that repays shareholders' trust."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.