[Featured Stock] Husentec, POSCO's 950 Billion Investment in Lithium Hydroxide Commercialization... Commercialization Imminent '↑'

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Husentec is showing strong performance. This is interpreted as drawing attention ahead of domestic mass production, preceding POSCO's move to commercialize lithium hydroxide.

As of 1:15 PM on the 16th, Husentec was trading at 2,215 KRW, up 14.47% (280 KRW) compared to the previous trading day.

On the same day, POSCO announced that its board of directors approved an investment project to commercialize lithium hydroxide production using lithium brine from the Hombre Muerto salt lake in Argentina. The total investment cost is approximately 950 billion KRW, with completion targeted for the first half of 2024. A second phase expansion investment is also under consideration.

POSCO's main focus, lithium hydroxide, is advantageous over lithium carbonate for improving the driving range of electric vehicle batteries, leading to increased demand recently; however, current dependence on China approaches 85%.

Meanwhile, Husentec revealed last month that its affiliate Lithium Plus succeeded in developing lithium hydroxide with 99.99% purity and is preparing for the first domestic commercialization.

Recently, Lithium Plus purchased a factory from Sky E&M to produce lithium hydroxide. Starting next year, they plan to establish a second plant and begin full-scale production. The annual production targets are 3,600 tons in 2022 and 40,000 tons in 2023. This volume is sufficient to produce approximately 1 million electric vehicles.

A company official stated, “The equipment manufacturing for product production is in its final stages,” adding, “We plan to complete the factory equipment and start initial production (500 tons) within the first quarter of next year.” He continued, “We aim to produce lithium hydroxide worth 1 trillion KRW annually by 2023.”