Lotte Aluminium loses trust after making battery foil with unauthorized equipment

• Published date: 02 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

Lotte Aluminium, the battery foil manufacturing affiliate of Lotte Group, is coming under criticism for using unauthorized equipment for years to make the key component supplied to the country's leading battery makers, according to industry officials, Thursday.

Whether the latest scandal will deal a blow to its expansion drive in the U.S. and Hungary remains to be seen. Lotte Aluminium and Lotte Chemical, another Lotte subsidiary, jointly invested 330 billion won ($251 million) to establish LOTTE Aluminium Materials USA in January. The battery foil manufacturing facility is expected to have an annual production capacity of 36,000 tons by 2025. Lotte Aluminium has a manufacturing facility in Hungary with an annual production capacity of 18,000 tons. The firm said last year that it will double the figures after investing 110 billion won.

Lotte Aluminium maintains that the quality of the final products was not compromised, stressing that the products in question account for only 35 percent of the total.

However, the move downplaying the gravity of the irregularity concerns has been met by criticism that the broken trust between business partners will not be easy to restore.

Some say Korea's reputation as a global battery manufacturing powerhouse will be undermined. Batteries produced by LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On, the battery manufacturing affiliates of LG Group, Samsung Group...