Posco Chemical moves faster to complete anode supply chain

[Photo provided by Posco Chemical Co.]

Posco Chemical Co. is accelerating its efforts to establish an anode manufacturing supply chain for stable production upon acquisition of a stake in a Chinese provider of graphite, a core material for anodes.

The South Korea¡¯s battery materials manufacturer recently announced that it took over a 13 percent in Qingdao Zhongshou New Energy Technology Co., the processor of spherical graphite, at 4.9 billion won ($4.2 million). Spherical graphite, an intermediate material for anodes, is used to enhance battery capacity and life span.

Posco Chemical shares jumped 5.56 percent on Monday to close at 171,000 won.

Anodes are one of the four core materials for an electric vehicle battery, along with cathodes, separators and electrolytes. Posco Chemical is the only company in Korea that produces both anodes and cathodes.

The company has partnered with the Chinese biggest graphite processor to deal with the surging demand for secondary batteries. It supplies its materials to not only Korea¡¯s top three battery providers but also overseas customers including U.S. Ultium Cells.

Posco Chemical has been stepping up its efforts to establish a comprehensive supply chain for anode producing business. It said last month that it would invest 74.5 billion won to produce 15,000 metric tons of petroleum pitch, a base material for anode coating, through P&O Chemical, its joint venture with OCI. The industry watchers estimate that demand for pitch would reach 270,000 tons by 2030.

It also acquired a 15 percent stake in Black Rock Mining, an Australian mining company that owns Mahenge Graphite Mine in Tanzania.

Posco Chemical, which started producing natural graphite anodes in 2010, became the fourth largest graphite anode provider in the world with an 11 percent market share as of 2020. It plans to diversify its product lineups to include low expansion anodes which are mostly used for EV batteries, artificial graphite anodes and silicon anodes.

[¨Ï Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]