From January to August this year, South Korea's imports of electric car batteries from China increased by 114.6% compared with the same period last year.

CTOnews.com October 8 news, according to Yonhap news agency, MBC and other South Korean media reports, the Korea Trade Association released a statistical report today, data show that from January to August this year, South Korea imported electric car batteries from China totaling US $4.47 billion (CTOnews.com Note: currently about 32.676 billion yuan), an increase of 114.6% over the same period last year.

So far, South Korea's imports of electric car batteries from China have exceeded the $3.49 billion for the whole of last year (currently about 25.512 billion yuan). According to reports, this year, South Korea imported 4.63 billion US dollars (currently about 33.845 billion yuan) worth of power batteries from around the world, 97 per cent of which came from Chinese companies.

In the same period, South Korea's exports of power batteries reached 66 million US dollars (currently about 482 million yuan), half of last year's total exports.

Industry analysts said that most of the lithium iron phosphate batteries imported from China have the advantages of high safety and relatively low cost, but its domestic production scale in South Korea is very small.

At present, automakers such as Hyundai Motor and KG Mobility have begun to use power batteries made in China to reduce the price of their products. For example, entry-level or economical models such as Hyundai Kona Electric and Kia Niro EV, Kia Ray, which are popular locally, all use batteries made by manufacturers such as Ningde Times.

▲ Tuyuan Kia battery companies in South Korea currently mostly distribute ternary lithium battery technology, and have gradually put into the development of lithium iron phosphate batteries, but mass production "still takes time" and is still in a stagnant period before 2026.