Korean EV battery makers' market share up in Oct.

SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's major electric vehicle (EV) battery producers increased their market share in October, despite a slowdown in global EV battery use, industry data showed Thursday.

Based on the global usage of their EV batteries, the combined market share of three South Korean EV battery makers -- LG Chem Ltd., Samsung SDI Co. and SK Innovation Co. -- stood at 22.4 percent in October, compared with 12.3 percent from a year earlier, according to data from market tracker SNE Research.

LG Chem was the third-best performer in the world with 14.2 percent market share, and 1.1 gigawatt-hours (GWh) worth of its EV batteries was used in October, up 28 percent from a year earlier.

Samsung SDI was fifth on the list with 5.5 percent market share after the global usage of its EV batteries surged 28.6 percent on-year, while SK Innovation ranked ninth with 2.7 percent market share following a 153.8 percent on-year increase in the usage of its EV batteries in October.

The strong performance from South Korean firms came despite an overall fall in global EV battery usage.

According to SNE Research, global EV battery usage fell for a third straight month, with 7.8 GWh of EV batteries used in October, down 25.7 percent from a year earlier.

A slump by Chinese battery makers prompted the drop, according to SNE Research.

China's CATL was the No. 1 player in October with 26.7 percent market share, though usage of its EV batteries fell 16.8 percent on-year to 2.08 GWh.

Japan's Panasonic came in second place in October with 17.5 percent market share, and the usage of its EV batteries declined 37.8 percent on-year to 1.36 GWh.

entropy@yna.co.kr
(END)