Government Battery Investment Expansion... Pohang City Strives to Designate Secondary Battery Specialized Complex

In relation to the government’s announcement of a national strategy to strengthen the competitiveness of the secondary battery industry at the ‘Secondary Battery National Strategy Meeting’ held on the 20th, the necessity of designating the Pohang Secondary Battery Specialized Complex, which Pohang City is prioritizing, is increasing.

The government announced a national strategy to enhance the competitiveness of the secondary battery industry, pledging to invest 20 trillion won by 2030 in cutting-edge secondary battery technology development in collaboration with domestic battery companies.

After starting mass production of next-generation batteries such as all-solid-state batteries, cylindrical 4680 batteries, and cobalt-free batteries at domestic mother factories, the plan is to mass-produce them overseas.

Over five years, the domestic production capacity of cathode materials will be quadrupled, and equipment export value will be expanded more than threefold, thereby strengthening the competitiveness of ‘SoBuJang’ (materials, parts, and equipment). Additionally, as securing minerals has become more important than ever, an ecosystem for the waste battery industry will be fostered to enable the extraction and reuse of minerals from waste batteries.

With the government’s announcement of this national strategy to strengthen the secondary battery industry’s competitiveness, the importance of secondary battery material companies such as EcoPro and POSCO Future M, which are making large-scale investments in Pohang, is expected to increase further. The local voices emphasizing the urgent need to designate Pohang’s secondary battery specialized complex, a strategic hub for raw materials and material production, to secure global technological supremacy are growing louder.

Pohang is the first city in South Korea to begin fostering the secondary battery industry. Since Mayor Lee Kang-deok’s inauguration in 2014, administrative efforts have been concentrated on nurturing future-oriented industries that will lead the next 100 years.

As a result of these efforts, anticipating the development potential of the secondary battery industry, Pohang moved faster than other local governments by starting with the designation of a regulatory-free special zone for used battery recycling in July 2019. Today, it has become a city leading K-Battery and is gaining attention domestically and internationally due to the rapid growth of the secondary battery industry.

Since the Pohang Steelworks was established in Pohang in 1970, Pohang’s main industry was steel. Thanks to the boom in the steel industry, Pohang grew from a small fishing village into an industrial city, achieving the Yeongilman Miracle.

However, from 2010, the domestic steel industry faced difficulties due to global oversupply, slowed growth in domestic and overseas demand industries, and paradigm shifts across industries such as the spread of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As the steel industry struggled, Pohang, which had been heavily dependent on steel, also faced challenges, making the cultivation of new growth industries an essential task.

The secondary battery industry, which Pohang City is currently dedicating itself to fostering, is establishing itself as an industry capable of overcoming these regional limitations and achieving a second Yeongilman Miracle.

In 2022, the sales revenue of Pohang’s steel industry was 17 trillion won, while the secondary battery industry’s sales revenue was 5 trillion won. Considering the rapid growth of the secondary battery industry, it is expected that the sales revenue of the secondary battery industry within the region will soon surpass that of the steel industry.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok stated, “The fostering of Pohang’s secondary battery industry is expected to play a significant role as a future-oriented industry leading Pohang’s next 100 years.”

Ecopro established in Pohang Yeongilman Industrial Complex. [Image source: Pohang City]

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