Korean Battery Top 3 Firms' Market Share Drops from 30% to 23% in 2 Years... Sales and Profit Margins Increase

The market share of electric vehicle batteries held by the three domestic battery companies declined from 30.4% in 2021 to 23.8% in the first half of 2023. However, their sales revenue and operating profit have significantly improved.

At the 2023 KABC Conference held on the 14th, Kim Kwang-joo, CEO of SNE Research, announced that although the market share of K-batteries is on a downward trend due to the aggressive competition from low-cost Chinese LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries, sales revenue and operating profit are on the rise.

The three K-battery companies recorded sales of $26.7 billion (approximately 35.4843 trillion KRW) in the first half of this year, a 70.1% increase compared to $15.7 billion (approximately 20.8653 trillion KRW) in the same period last year.

LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI are currently posting operating profit margins of 5-7%, and SK On has also greatly improved its profitability, with expectations to break even next year.

In his presentation, CEO Kim evaluated that the three K-battery companies are responding well to the low-cost LFP battery offensive from China by focusing on high-quality, profit-oriented marketing strategies. He also foresaw that if policies such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Europe’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) are utilized efficiently, the three K-battery companies will be able to secure market share and increase operating profit margins in the global battery market going forward.

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