Lotte Aluminum to invest more in Hungary foil plant

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin [LOTTE GROUP]

Lotte Aluminium will invest an additional 110 billion won ($84.4 million) in its anode foil plant in Hungary, targeting the growing electric vehicle (EV) battery market in Europe.

The investment was announced by group Chairman Shin Dong-bin during a visit to the factory in Tatabánya Industrial Park on June 18. Lotte Aluminium invested 120-billion-won in 2020 to build the plant, finishing construction last July.

The plant can manufacture 18,000 tons of anode foil annually, which is used in EV batteries. The additional investment will be used to double capacity.

Shin said a third round of investment will be made in the future.

Lotte Aluminium’s plant is the only anode foil-dedicated plant in Europe, and Lotte plans to supply its products to various battery manufacturers in Europe. The market will be promising, with 2.3 million EVs sold in Europe last year, up 65 percent on year, according to S&P Global.

The plant is located in the so-called Lotte Cluster, along with plants of Lotte Chemical and Lotte Fine Chemical. Lotte plans to expand its presence in Tatabánya, with Lotte Engineering & Construction signing a memorandum of understanding with Logis Valley Hanaro to build an 85,000-square-meter logistics center. The company said the logistics center will be the biggest in Hungary and used to store EV batteries and battery materials.

Shin's visit to Hungary was part of a trip around Europe. Shin met with CEOs of global retail companies including P&G, Walmart and PepsiCo at the Consumer Goods Forum on Tuesday, pitching Lotte’s businesses and Busan’s bid to host the World Expo 2030.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]