POSCO’s Choi traverses Canada, US to pitch for battery material projects

Choi Jeong-woo, chairman of South Korea’s largest steel group POSCO, is crisscrossing Canada and the US to meet with politicians and business leaders to pitch for its battery materials business, one of its key growth drivers.

Last week, the chief executive of POSCO Holdings Inc. visited the construction site of its cathode material plant in Quebec. He also met with Quebec Premier Francois Legault to seek support for POSCO's plan to expand its battery materials business in Canada.

POSCO Future M Co., the group’s battery materials unit, and its US partner General Motors Co. are currently building a $633 million plant to produce up to 30,000 tons of cathode materials a year in Becancour, Quebec. Construction of the plant is scheduled for completion by 2024.

POSCO Future M said earlier this week it will inject 1 trillion won ($765 million) into Ultium CAM, the POSCO-GM joint venture, to double cathode production capacity and build a precursor plant in Quebec by 2026.

MEET WITH FORD CEO

Last Wednesday, Choi traveled to Detroit and met with Ford Motor Chief Executive Jim Farley, who visited POSCO Center in Seoul last fall.

In Detroit, the two leaders, with POSCO Future M CEO Kim Jun-hyung in attendance, discussed ways to enhance business cooperation in steel and battery materials.

Industry watchers said POSCO Future M may be seeking to supply cathode materials to Ford.

Cathode, a key battery ingredient, accounts for around 40% of the cost of EV batteries.

The capacity expansion in Canada is part of POSCO’s preemptive efforts to meet growing demand for EVs in North America while complying with the US battery component requirement.

The POSCO leader traveled to New York earlier this week to meet with Wall Street investors, including those from JPMorgan Chase and AllianceBernstein. During their meetings, Choi outlined POSCO’s growth plans.

On Tuesday, the POSCO chief gave a speech at the Global Steel Dynamics Forum in New York City.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.