Pohang City Aims to Become a Global Battery Hub... POSCO Group and CNGR Begin Construction of New Plant

On the 31st, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the Yeongilman 4 General Industrial Complex in Pohang for the factories of Posco CNGR Nickel Solution and C&P New Material Technology, newly established as a joint venture between the Posco Group and China's CNG Group, the world's number one precursor company.

POSCO CNGR Nickel Solution and C&P New Material Technology.

원본보기 아이콘

Approximately 300 people attended the ceremony, including Mayor Lee Kangdeok, Gyeongbuk Province Vice Governor Kim Hakhong, Pohang City Council Chairman Baek Inkyu, Gyeongbuk Provincial Council Vice Chairman Park Yongseon, Posco Holdings Head of Battery Materials Kim Junhyeong, CNGR Holdings Vice Chairman Wu Xiaoge, Posco Future M CEO Yoo Byeongok, and officials from related organizations.

Posco CNGR Nickel Solution, established with a 60:40 equity investment by Posco Holdings and CNGR Group, plans to invest about 410 billion KRW to build a high-purity nickel refining plant with an annual capacity of 50,000 tons on a 66,000-square-meter site within Yeongilman 4 General Industrial Complex.

Additionally, C&P New Material Technology, a joint venture between Posco Future M and CNGR Group with a 20:80 equity split, will invest about 1.1 trillion KRW to build a plant producing 110,000 tons of precursor annually on a 171,000-square-meter site.

This investment is expected to create about 1,000 new jobs in Pohang and generate annual sales of up to 3 trillion KRW, which is anticipated to have a positive impact on revitalizing the local economy.

C&P New Material Technology plans to use 99.9% high-purity refined nickel produced by Posco CNGR Nickel Solution to manufacture precursors. The two companies will build their factories on adjacent sites, which is expected to reduce logistics costs and contribute to the stable supply of key materials for electric vehicle batteries.

Precursors are an intermediate material just before cathode materials and account for 60% of the cost of cathode materials, making them a core material for electric vehicle batteries. However, as of 2023, only 12% of domestic demand is produced in Korea, with most precursor demand relying on China.

Posco Holdings and Posco Future M plan to accelerate the localization of precursors and further strengthen their competitiveness in the global market through this joint investment with CNGR Group.

With the groundbreaking of these two joint ventures, about 1.42 million square meters of secondary battery material companies, including anchor companies such as Posco Future M, Ecopro, and Energy Materials, have established themselves in the Yeongilman General Industrial Complex.

Pohang City recently attracted a large-scale investment of 3.8 trillion KRW in the secondary battery sector to the Blue Valley National Industrial Complex, solidifying a robust value chain in the secondary battery field within Pohang, from raw materials to precursors, cathode materials, and battery reuse and recycling.

Mayor Lee Kangdeok stated, "I congratulate the new beginnings of Posco CNGR Nickel Solution and C&P New Material Technology, and I hope that with this groundbreaking, the two companies will write another chapter of history in Pohang. Pohang City will spare no administrative support to ensure it becomes the center of that history."

Pohang was designated as a specialized complex for the secondary battery cathode material industry in July last year, and this year, the city is making every effort to be designated as a special opportunity development zone for secondary batteries, aiming to establish itself as a leading city in the secondary battery sector.

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.