S. Korean companies account for 33.8 pct of global battery market in Jan.-Sept.: report

SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- The combined global market share of three major South Korean battery makers fell slightly in the first nine months of this year from a month earlier, amid toughening competition with bigger Chinese rivals, a report showed Thursday.

The cumulative market share of LG Energy Solution Ltd., SK Innovation Co. and Samsung SDI Co. stood at 33.8 percent for the January-September period, down 1 percentage point from the tally in August, according to market tracker SNE Research.

LG Energy Solution, which supplies electric vehicle batteries to Volkswagen and Ford, ranked second with 23.8 percent, trailing behind Chinese rival CATL taking up 31.2 percent.

SK Innovation was fifth with a 5.4 percent share, and Samsung SDI came next with 4.6 percent.

Panasonic placed third with 13.3 percent and China's BYD followed with 7.9 percent.

"Many Chinese companies, with CATL and BYD at the forefront, led the market growth. The three Korean companies have fared well with steady growth amid the overall pressure from Chinese rivals," the report said.

The cumulative amount of battery energy usage from electric vehicles reached 195.4 gigawatt hours globally in the same period, 2.3 times higher than the previous year, the report said.

elly@yna.co.kr
(END)