POSCO Chem Q3 profit surges as battery materials lift sales to fresh high
Jeong Min Nam
Oct 21, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)
South Korea’s POSCO Chemical Co. enjoyed a surge in operating profit in the third quarter as higher sales of battery materials ramped up revenue to an all-time high.
The unit of the country’s steel giant POSCO Co. said its operating profit soared 62.4% on-year to 31.5 billion won ($26.8 million) in the July-September period with sales up 29.9% to a quarterly record of 505 billion won, according to POSCO Chemical’s filing to a financial regulator on Oct. 21. It was the first time to post quarterly revenue of more than 500 trillion won.
Sales of key secondary battery materials including cathode and anode materials accounted for 42.5% of the total revenue. Cathode materials sales jumped 63.1% to 171.7 billion won from a year earlier as higher prices of raw materials such as nickel offset slower demand from electric vehicles due to the prolonged automotive chip shortage.
Revenues from the chemical and refractory businesses also improved. Chemical sales jumped 31.1% to 172.8 billion won thanks to improved selling prices and volume of coal tar and light oil on strong crude prices. Coal tar, a by-product of steel production, is also used for anode materials.