Pohang City Achieves 'Gyeongbuk Province Investment Attraction Grand Prize in All Categories' for Two Consecutive Years

Investment Attraction Achievements Honored Across All Three Categories: Local Governments, Distinguished Public Officials, and Investment Companies

Lee Hwakyung, EcoPro Materials Win Top Awards in Each Category; Special Prize Awarded to Woojeon G&F

Pohang City won the grand prize in the city/county division, public official division, and investment company division at the 'Gyeongbuk Province Investment Attraction Awards' ceremony held on the 26th, securing the grand prize in all categories for two consecutive years.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Pohang City achieved the great feat of winning the grand prize in all investment attraction categories for two consecutive years, following last year, at the ‘2022 Gyeongbuk Province Investment Attraction Awards’ ceremony held on the 26th at the Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Multipurpose Hall.

The ‘2022 Gyeongsangbuk-do Investment Attraction Awards’ evaluated the investment attraction performance over the past year (2021.11.?2022.10.) for 23 cities and counties in Gyeongbuk and awarded three categories: ‘City/County Local Government,’ ‘Meritorious Public Officials,’ and ‘Investing Companies.’

Pohang City received the grand prize in the City/County Local Government category, while in the Meritorious Public Officials category, Ewhahyeong, a principal officer of the Investment Company Support Division, won the grand prize. In the Investing Companies category, Ecopro Materials received the grand prize, earning the honor of winning the grand prize in all investment attraction categories. Additionally, Woojeon G&F was awarded a ‘Special Prize.’

Over the past year, the city attracted investments worth 1.4 trillion KRW from 14 companies in secondary batteries, robotics, bio, and other sectors to Yeongilman 4 General Industrial Complex, Pohang Blue Valley National Industrial Complex, and Pohang Convergence Technology Industrial Zone, which led to winning the grand prize in both the City/County Local Government and Meritorious Public Officials categories.

Ecopro Materials, which won the grand prize in the Investing Companies category, invested 402 billion KRW in the Yeongilman 4 General Industrial Complex to establish a precursor production facility with an annual capacity of 50,000 tons, leading the domestic secondary battery industry. As of December this year, it has employed about 400 people, contributing to job creation and revitalization of the local economy.

Woojeon G&F, which received the Special Prize, is a specialized secondary battery material production company that signed a memorandum of understanding for investment worth 75 billion KRW with Pohang City last March and plans to start construction of its production plant in 2023.

During the 7th and 8th terms of the elected mayor, Pohang City attracted 4.2 trillion KRW in the secondary battery sector and 1.3 trillion KRW in the hydrogen and bio sectors.

In particular, in the secondary battery industry sector, Pohang is emerging as the optimal location for global battery company investments by attracting a post-use battery resource recycling cluster, an inline automatic evaluation center, and domestic anchor companies in the secondary battery industry (Ecopro, POSCO Chemical, GS Construction, Samsung SDI), as well as global secondary battery companies such as China’s GEM and CNGR. Pohang is preparing to leap forward as a secondary battery hub city through the designation of a specialized secondary battery complex.

Mayor Kangdeok Lee stated, “Pohang City will continue to actively strive to create jobs and revitalize the local economy through corporate attraction,” adding, “We will focus all administrative efforts on laying a new foundation for innovative growth by attracting and nurturing core new growth industries such as secondary batteries, hydrogen, and bio.”

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