The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is planning to look into the procurement of rechargeable battery materials and components. This is to forestall procurement setbacks with South Korea depending heavily on China in this sector.
“China is the only country in the world that is capable of manufacturing rechargeable batteries on its own from the beginning,” the ministry explained, adding, “Any export restriction in China can lead to a serious impact on the global rechargeable battery and related industries including those of South Korea.”
Specifically, the ministry is going to look into the current status regarding the rechargeable battery industries of South Korea, China and Japan, enterprise-specific procurement, demand by sector such as EV and IT, etc.
The outcome of the research is scheduled to be turned into a database on the supply and procurement of raw materials for rechargeable battery manufacturing. “More effective supply chain strategies can be formulated based on the database, and then South Korea’s vulnerability in the sector will be reduced,” the ministry said.
According to the Korea International Trade Association, South Korea imported a total of 12,856 items for the first three quarters of this year and its dependence on China is at least 80 percent in the case of 1,850 constituting the import items. The 1,850 import items include lithium hydroxide, which is an essential rechargeable battery material, and South Korea’s dependence on China amounts to 83.5 percent when it comes to this material.
