LG Chem Vice Chairman Shin Hak-cheol.

LG Chem saw its battery business reach the biggest-ever portion of overall company revenue in the first half of this year.

LG Chem, already on the leaderboard of the global EV battery market, logged the best-ever business performance and stock prices recently by continuing to invest.

LG Chem said on Aug. 17 the company chalked up 13.664 trillion won in the first half of the year. The EV battery business accounted for 5.084 trillion won or 37.2 percent of the H1 total sales.

The EV battery business’s portion of sales stood at 30.8 percent. It is the first time the figure surpassed the 30 percent threshold. The business’s H1 share of sales was 12.8 percentage points higher than 24.4 percent in the first half of 2018.

LG Chem posted 777.5 billion won in H1 operating profit. Out of the total, the EV battery business chalked up 103.7 billion won, or 13.3 percent.

The EV battery business recorded the highest-ever portion whereas the share of the petrochemical business, the conventional mainstay sector, declined.

The portion of the petrochemical business, which stood at 61.2 percent in 2018, plunged to 49.3 percent in 2020 H1.

The share of the advanced material business and life science business amounted to 7.8 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. The petrochemical business is in a long-term recession, but the EV battery business is establishing itself as a new mainstay business.

LG Chem channeled 1.071.4 trillion won in the first half of the year by expanding EV battery plants in Poland and China.

The EV battery business saw investments increase production capacity to 14 trillion won, a 57 percent jump over the same period a year ago.

But the operation rate of EV battery production lines dropped to 51.8 percent in the wake of the ramifications, caused by the spread of COVID-19. The figure stood at 67 percent in 2017, 64 percent in 2018 and 57.3 percent last year.

LG Chem poured 543 billion won in companywide R&D expenditures, so the rate of R&D outlays out of sales rose to 4 percent.

The company logged 42,442 patents registered in Korea and abroad. LG Chem is running a neck-and-neck race with CATL of China. Global attention is focused on a forecast Tesla of the United States will develop EV batteries on its own.

Employees with LG Chem look at EV batteries. (Photos: LG Chem)