Korean Firms Hobbled by China's Unfair Policy
Market research firm SNE Research announced on June 5 that CATL accounted for 25.1 percent of the global electric vehicle (EV) battery use for the first four months of this year, followed by Panasonic (21.5 percent), BYD (16.3 percent), and LG Chem (10.4 percent). Samsung SDI came in sixth with 3 percent and SK Innovation took the ninth place with 2 percent.
SK Innovation joined the top 10 list this year. At present, patent litigation is underway between LG Chem and the company. LG Chem’s market share is on the rise and Samsung SDI’s is on the decline.
The high market share of the Chinese EV battery suppliers can be attributed to the huge EV market of China, which amounts to half of the global market. The Chinese government is currently providing no subsidies for EVs equipped with non-Chinese EV batteries and, as such, South Korean companies cannot enter the Chinese market in spite of their technological competitive edge.
Experts point out that the competitive edge will disappear within years. “The government subsidies are indeed a decisive factor and things will get worse for the South Korean companies once their American and German counterparts enter the market,” one of them explained.