Pohang City Projects 1 Million Tons of Cathode Materials Production and 70 Trillion KRW Sales by 2030 as the 'Heart of Battery'

5 Trillion Won Investment Raised in First Half, 12 Trillion Won Investment Planned

Driving the Development of the Electric Vehicle Industry Across the Entire Southeast Region

Pohang City, focusing its administrative efforts ahead of others since 2014 to foster the food industry that will lead the next 100 years, is expected to play a leading role in the development of South Korea's secondary battery industry beyond the local region.

Pohang City forecasts achieving 1 million tons of cathode materials, the "heart of batteries," and production sales of 70 trillion won by 2030.

The city anticipates that by 2030, through large-scale investments by global secondary battery material companies Ecopro and POSCO Future M, it will produce 1 million tons of cathode materials, the core materials known as the "heart of the battery" that determine performance such as output and capacity, with cathode material sales alone reaching 70 trillion KRW.

Currently, in response to the rapidly growing electric vehicle industry, not only are there large-scale investments by Ecopro and POSCO Future M located in Pohang, but investments from key domestic and international secondary battery material companies are also continuing.

In this regard, on the 4th, Pohang City and Gyeongbuk Province signed an investment agreement worth 1.7 trillion KRW with China's Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt and POSCO Future M at Pohang City Hall. They plan to invest 1.2 trillion KRW in nickel refining and precursor production, and 500 billion KRW in anode material production.

China's Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, established in 2002, is China's largest cobalt producer and one of the world's top three precursor producers, a global company that has built vertical integration from raw material mining such as nickel and cobalt to battery recycling.

Currently, Pohang is receiving investments not only from Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt but also from CNGR, the world's number one precursor producer based in China. CNGR, together with POSCO Holdings and POSCO Future M, is preparing to start construction of a factory in the Yeongilman 4 Industrial Complex with an investment of 1.6 trillion KRW to produce 100,000 tons of precursors and 250,000 tons of nickel refining.

In addition, domestic and international global secondary battery companies are in close consultation with the city for investments in Pohang, with investment attraction amounts reaching 5 trillion KRW in the first half of this year alone.

Moreover, the total amount of future confirmed investments reaches 12 trillion KRW, and the sites for these companies cover approximately 2 million square meters (600,000 pyeong). The city is accelerating infrastructure development to support smooth investment and settlement by these companies.

As Pohang rapidly grows into a city securing global leadership in the secondary battery industry, related experts predict that the designation of Pohang as a "secondary battery specialized complex" will drive the development of the electric vehicle industry in the southeastern region, encompassing not only Daegu and Gyeongbuk but also Ulsan and Busan.

The southeastern region holds ports that play an important role in fostering the electric vehicle industry, making it easy to enter the global market, and has well-developed automobile parts materials and complete vehicle industries, providing favorable conditions for the development of the electric vehicle industry.

The designation of the Pohang secondary battery specialized complex is expected to establish a full-cycle value chain from secondary battery material and parts production to battery production and electric vehicle manufacturing, linked to the fostering of the electric vehicle industry.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok emphasized, "With recent large-scale investments by global secondary battery companies continuing, the designation of a secondary battery specialized complex is more necessary than ever to support smooth investment," adding, "We will focus administrative power to ensure Pohang leads South Korea's secondary battery industry in securing global super-gap competitiveness."

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