The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) announced on March 8 that Chinese, South Korean and Japanese lithium batteries accounted for 43.4 percent, 19.49 percent and 13.23 percent of the lithium battery imports of the United States last year, respectively. South Korea’s proportion increases to 25.7 percent when the United States’ imports from Poland and Hungary are included in the calculation in view of the fact that LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI are doing business in those countries, respectively.
Last year, the three Asian countries increased their exports to the United States without exception. Specifically, those of China, South Korea and Japan increased from US$1,834.56 million to US$2,055.71 million, from US$731.96 million to US$923.33 million, and from US$451.91 million to US$626.54 million, respectively.
The imports from South Korea, Poland, Hungary, China and Japan accounted for no less than 82.3 percent of the total imports. The U.S. lithium battery market is forecast to grow to US$11.9 billion in 2025 and the Asian countries are vying to get the upper hand there.
In 2020, Panasonic’ share in the market was 45.8 percent and that of LG Energy Solution was 11.1 percent. They were followed by EnerSys (3.7 percent), A123 Systems (3.3 percent) and Samsung SDI (2.7 percent). Panasonic has worked with Tesla since as early as 2014 and Tesla’s new 4680 battery is produced by Panasonic.
LG Energy Solution entered the U.S. market by setting up Ultium Cells with GM. The joint venture is building a battery manufacturing plant in Ohio by investing approximately US$2.3 billion. Although China took up the largest portion of the total imports, Chinese companies are yet to directly enter the market. This is because the market entry is prohibited with regard to U.S.-China trade disputes. AESC, a Japanese company sold to China, is supplying Nissan with a small amount of products produced there.