By Kim Seung-yeon
SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Yonhap) — Lotte Energy Materials Corp. announced on Monday that it will invest 560 billion won (US$431 million) in constructing a factory in Mont-roig del Camp, a town in Catalonia in northeastern Spain, for the production of battery-grade copper foil for electric vehicle cells.
The facility will have the capacity to create 30,000 tons of high-end copper foil each year, a vital component in secondary batteries, and the commencement of site development is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, with completion expected by 2025.
This will be Lotte Energy Materials’ second overseas plant, the first being in Malaysia, and the company has stated that the area acquired in Spain is large enough to house a plant that is capable of producing 100,000 tons of copper foil.
Lotte Energy Materials, formerly known as Iljin Materials Co., was taken over by Lotte Chemical Corp. last year as its wholly-owned subsidiary.
The company produces 60,000 tons of copper foil in its Iksan plant in South Korea, as well as 40,000 tons from its Malaysian plant, which is being expanded to generate an additional 20,000 tons by the end of this year.
Lotte Energy Materials is aiming to raise its total copper foil production to 240,000 tons annually by 2028, with the goal of capturing a 30 percent share of the high-end copper foil industry.
This photo, provided by Lotte Energy Materials Corp. on Aug. 7, 2023, shows a rendering of the site of what will be its second overseas copper foil manufacturing plant, in Mont-roig del Camp in Catalonia, in northeastern Spain. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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