Korea Battery Association to Create Reliable Statistics for Three Major Battery Companies (Comprehensive)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The Korea Battery Industry Association, which includes the three major domestic battery companies, will release its own battery statistics. Due to the lack of reliable data sources and ongoing concerns about errors in battery statistics, there has been a growing need for accurate and credible statistics.

According to the Battery Association on the 18th, the association plans to announce data including the battery market size and each company's mass production capacity in the second half of this year. The association is expected to compile statistical figures based on data collected from domestic finished battery cell manufacturers. An association official stated, "However, the decision to release the statistics will be made after discussions with the companies."

There has been strong demand within the battery industry for accurate information to be delivered to the market. The Battery Association has received numerous suggestions to "create credible statistics." The consensus was that it is difficult to accurately assess the production capacity and scale of domestic battery companies based on private research firms' battery statistics.

In particular, most battery statistics have been based on data originating from China. This is because China has secured the battery value chain, research infrastructure, and production plants. The Chinese electric vehicle market is leading the global market. According to SNE Research, last year China's electric vehicle market grew by 167% compared to the previous year, raising the electric vehicle penetration rate in China to 9%. Due to this market dominance, Chinese battery companies show a high global market share, but there have been voices claiming that the domestic three companies are undervalued due to uncertainties in Chinese domestic statistics.

In March this year, visitors at the SK On booth at 'InterBattery 2022,' a specialized battery exhibition including secondary batteries held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, are examining the displayed NCM9 batteries.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

An industry insider said, "(So far, battery statistics) have shown the explosive increase in electric vehicle sales in China, but when examined in detail, the battery sales were roughly estimated based on electric vehicle sales (in collaboration with each company)," adding, "If credible statistics are produced, they could provide important benchmarks for industry insiders and investors."

There are several difficulties in securing battery statistics, which is also why official statistics have not been released so far. First, it is difficult to evaluate each country's battery manufacturing capacity based on export information. Battery production plants tend to be established locally due to the heavy weight of batteries and each country's eco-friendly energy and protective trade policies. Therefore, it is impossible to assess each country's battery manufacturing capacity based solely on export data.

It is also difficult to verify corporate competitiveness by ranking based on production volume. The battery industry is still in its infancy compared to other industries such as semiconductors and automobiles. Since battery products have not yet been standardized or regulated, there are criticisms that simple comparisons based on production scale such as GWh are insufficient.