EcoPro’s cathode material sales to Samsung more than treble

EcoPro Group, South Korea’s leading battery materials producer, raked in more than 3 trillion won ($2.4 billion) in sales from its largest customer Samsung SDI Co. in 2022, according to recent regulatory filings by its key units.

The figure is a whopping 265% surge from the previous year, driven by the booming rechargeable battery market.

The group’s two key arms EcoPro BM Co. and EcoPro EM Co. supplied a combined 3.18 trillion won worth of cathode materials to the Samsung Group unit last year. Samsung SDI accounts for about 30% and almost all of the two units’ sales in 2022, respectively.

Cathode is a core ingredient of electric vehicle batteries.

EcoPro Group’s sales have been rapidly growing since it shifted to Samsung SDI in 2012, breaking away from Samsung’s rival LG Energy Solution Ltd.

In detail, Kosdaq-listed EcoPro BM posted 1 trillion won in sales from Samsung SDI in 2022, while unlisted EcoPro EM sold 2.16 trillion won worth of cathode materials to the latter.

Established in 2020, EcoPro EM is a 60:40 joint venture between EcoPro BM and Samsung SDI. Last year, it posted operating profit of 123.8 billion won.

Other than the business relationship, the cathode materials supplier has been hiring former Samsung SDI senior officials as executives, including EcoPro Group’s Chief Executive Song Ho-joon. Song previously led Samsung SDI’s strategic management division as a vice president.

Despite the sharp sales growth, however, its heavy reliance on Samsung SDI could be seen as a double-edged sword. Given this, EcoPro is striving to expand its customer base.

“We’re working to also secure orders from LG Energy Solution,” CEO Song told The Korea Economic Daily in a recent interview.

This year, EcoPro Group aims to nearly double its sales to 10 trillion won from 2022, riding on the booming EV battery market.

Meanwhile, EcoPro Materials Co., a high-nickel precursor manufacturer, is seeking to list on the Korea Exchange later this year.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.