The Industry's Only Battery Recycling ETF Is Thriving

Since the beginning of the year, expectations for improvement in the electric vehicle industry have grown, leading the secondary battery theme to drive gains in the domestic stock market. Recently, domestic secondary battery companies have consecutively announced strong earnings, causing their stock prices to surge.

According to the financial investment industry on the 6th, KB Asset Management's 'KBSTAR Battery Recycling iSelect ETF' recorded a 1-month return of 21.81%. This is the highest return among 678 ETFs listed domestically.

Interest in the secondary battery theme, which had slowed down last year, is expanding into the battery recycling industry.

Battery recycling refers to extracting key minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel from end-of-life electric vehicle batteries and reusing them in new batteries.

Launched by KB Asset Management in November last year, the 'KBSTAR Battery Recycling iSelect ETF' is the industry's only product investing in battery recycling companies. Major holdings include Ecopro (12.18%), Sungil Hightech (8.92%), Cosmo Chemical (8.74%), Saevitchem (6.47%), and SK Innovation (4.19%).

Unlike secondary battery theme ETFs focused on battery cells and material companies, this ETF is characterized by broad investment across the entire battery circular economy industry.

According to SNE Research, the battery recycling market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 34% until 2035. By 2035, 15% to 30% of the demand for core battery minerals is expected to be produced through recycling. In particular, since Korea has a high dependence on overseas sources for core battery materials, fostering the battery recycling industry is essential.

Geum Jeong-seop, head of ETF marketing at KB Asset Management, said, "Considering that the residual life of electric vehicle batteries is 7 to 10 years, the battery recycling market is expected to fully blossom within a few years," adding, "If invested alongside secondary battery ETFs, investors can fully enjoy the benefits of the secondary battery upswing while evenly investing in the electric vehicle market."

Meanwhile, KB Asset Management is leading the thematic ETF market by focusing on eco-friendly ETFs. Last year, it launched secondary battery-themed ETFs such as 'KBSTAR Battery Recycling iSelect' and 'KBSTAR Secondary Battery Active,' completing a total lineup of six eco-friendly ETFs. It operates the most diverse eco-friendly ETFs domestically, including 'Global Nuclear iSelect,' 'Fn Hydrogen Economy Theme,' 'Global Hydrogen Economy Indxx,' and 'Global Clean Energy S&P.'